2-982-112 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Sketches from H.M.S. Challenger, by Mr. J. J. Wild: Tamarind Tree, planted by Captain Cook at Venus Point, Tahiti, 1876. '...the Challenger sighted the islands of Tahiti and Eimeo, and...an excursion was planned to Venus Point, the spot where Cook, in 1769, little more than a century ago, established his observatory to watch the transit of Venus. It is a low, flat promontory, situated a few miles to the eastward of Papeete...In the midst of the park-like scenery with which this place is surrounded, a tamarind-tree was pointed out - one planted, according to tradition, by Captain Cook himself. Near it stood some Tahitian huts, with their usual complement of smiling, dark-skinned natives, and in the background Orovena, the highest peak of the island, raised its steep flanks into the blue sky. Probably it has never been the fortune of Science to take up her temporary abode in a more charming spot'. From "Illustrated London News", 1876.