Kōrero: European discovery of New Zealand

James Cook and those who accompanied him had sustained and friendly interaction with Māori, and made detailed observations. The artist Sydney Parkinson, who travelled with Cook on the Endeavour, made many sketches, including this portrait of ‘the head of a chief of New Zealand, the face curiously tataow’d, or marked according to their manner’. The chief has a full facial moko (tattoo), a greenstone tiki around his neck, an ear pendant, and a comb in his topknot.