Travel of Georg Forster
Matavai Bay - Tahiti (Port Royal Bay)
Title
Dramatic dance performed by the sister of the king
Short description
Georg Forster describes the dramatic dance performed by the king's sister Towraï in honour of the captains.
Text on source
During our absence the captains had paid a visit to the king at Parre, where they were highly entertained by the sight of a dramatic dance, which her royal highness Towraï performed, in a dress exactly described in captain Cook's former voyage, and with the same gestures which are there mentioned. Two men danced at different intervals, when the princess rested, and, with many strange distortions, spoke or sung some words, probably relative to the subject of their dance, which was unintelligible to our people. The whole entertainment lasted about an hour and a half, during which Tedua Towraï displayed a wonderful activity, which surpassed every thing that had been seen at the isle of Ulietea in the former voyage.
English translation
Folios/Pages
p. 345
Date
1773 08 29
Observations on the events description
Captain Cook's account of his previous voyage is footnoted as follows: "See Hawkesworth, vol. II. p. 264, 265. See also the plate No. 7. though that conveys no idea of Taheitians".
Second Travel of James Cook, event number 14.
The dots on the map indicate the places where sound and music events were described. They don't represent travel stages.
Participants
Name
Role
Notes
Edit
Delete
Cook, James
Viewer
Furneaux, Tobias
Viewer
How to quote
Fabbrocino A. P., "Dramatic dance performed by the sister of the king" (Event description), Echos. Sound Ecosystems in Travelogues. Published 2024 03 18.
doi: 10.25430/echos.travels.76
This work is licensed under CC-BY-SA 4.0 
