Whitcoulls Publishers, Christchurch, 1985. Faded spine with signs of secondhand wear to dustjacket.

Nineteenth-century colonisation brought a need to explore the country in order to understand its configurations and estimate its resources. In search of land, gold or souls to save, the explorers went out to take possession in the name of a new society.

Who were these men? Seven major expeditions are described in this book, broadly representing the kind of explorers there were, their principal motives for exploration, and the difficulties that they faced. With the aid of contemporary journals and letters, both published and unpublished, Philip Temple re-creates each expedition. The emphasis is on first-hand accounts, and he frequently allows the explorers to tell their own stories. Temple has also physically retraced each of the seven expeditions, achieving a first-hand interpretation of the explorers' experiences, and has brought back a collection of outstanding photographs which portray the landscapes and physical difficulties that each explorer faced.