1-154-944 - Oxford Science Archive/Heritage Images

Human sacrifice on Tahiti in the South Pacific, c1773. Captain Cook and his officers watching a group of Tahitians chanting as a man and some pigs are prepared for sacrifice on the island of Otaheite (Tahiti). This is one of the events witnessed by Captain James Cook, the famed navigator and hydrographer, during the second of his three exploratory voyages to the Pacific region in 1772-1775 when they crossed latitude 70 degrees - the furthest south then reached by Europeans. These voyages transformed our knowledge of the region.