Augustus Earle (1793–1838) was a professional watercolour artist specialising in colonial themes. He exhibited at the Royal Academy from the age of thirteen and in 1815 travelled to the Mediterranean. He spent the next fifteen years touring the world and in 1832, when this book was published, was briefly employed by Darwin on H.M.S. Beagle, though he left that expedition in Montevideo owing to ill health. The first part of the book describes Earle's experiences in New Zealand, where he observed in detail the lifestyle of the pre-colonial Maori and the early European settlers. The second part tells how in 1824 Earle, travelling from Rio to Cape Town, found himself left behind on the Atlantic island of Tristan da Cunha and spent eight months sharing the simple life of the tiny British community there and tutoring their children until finally a rare passing ship took him on board.