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Cover Legend: Portrait of a New Zealand Man (c. 1770). Artist: Sydney Parkinson (c. 1745-1771); pen, wash. At the behest of the Royal Society, London, and underwritten by John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich, James Cook set out on a series of three monumental voyages between 1768 and 1780 to explore uncharted territories of the Pacific. His crew of 100 men was accompanied by noted naturalists (e.g., Sir Joseph Banks, FRS), astronomers, botanists, physicians, and artists, such as Sydney Parkinson and John Webber. Cook's team collected biological and botanical specimens, kept detailed written records, and produced documentary drawings and maps from Tierra del Fuego to the northernmost regions of the Bering Straits. Cook's expeditions were the most profusely illustrated of any voyages before the advent of photography. Much of this material had never before been reported to the Western world: the novel and often anomalous specimens fueled a passion for taxonomy which became a main theme of 18th century science. "Most of the Maori men had their hair tied up on the crown of their heads in a knot. Their faces were tataowed, [sic] or marked either all over, or on one side, in a very curious manner, some of them in fine spiral directions, like a volute being indented in the skin very different from the rest." (Cook's Journal: October 12, 1769) Parkinson's portraits of Maori warriors were the first visual record of the physiognomy, tattoo patterning, dress, and ornament of the New Zealand natives. This warrior chief is adorned with an ornamental comb, three feathers in a top-knot, a "heitiki" or amulet with a bone toggle hanging from his neck, and a long pendant earring. A similar heitiki was given to King George III by Cook and is now in the possession of Queen Elizabeth II. (From an exhibition curated by Ann Weissmann at the MBL/WHOI library, http://www.mblwhoilibrary.org/exhibits/cook/)