"Their Idol Kiwasa" [or K'ewas]

OPPS NEG.2860 LL

Engraving by De Bry, presumably after a drawing by John White, 1585 in North Carolina. Negative copy probably from Heriot, 1893 edition.

The original White drawing from which this was taken does not appear to be in the British Museum collection; at least it is not in the Praetorius copies of the British Museum collection owned by the Natural Museum. And note the following statement in Virginia History Magazine, Volume 35, 1927, "John White, English Artist," by D.I. Bushnell: "Twenty-three of the White drawings were reproduced by De Bry...Eighteen of the original drawings included in the above list [of those engraved by De Bry] are now in the British Museum..."

This would mean that there are a few (5) original drawings by White of which we do not know the whereabouts and for which we have only the De Bry engraving. These apparently included the drawings covered by our negatives BAE 2860 LL, BAE 867 (use of earthen pot in boiling), SI 44479 C ("The Manner of Making their boats.") and SI 44479 B (The marckes of sundrye of the chief mene of Virginia.") See complete list of negatives of John White drawings and engravings based on them in Bureau of American Ethnology Archives office file.

Engraving by Theodore De Bry, after a watercolor made by John White, ca. 1585, on the coast of present North Carolina (at that time called "Virginia"). Engraving copied from the 1893 edition of Heriot Narrative of the First English Plantation of Virginia, London. White's original watercolor is not known to be in existence.

Black and white film negative