Temperance Map; Antique Allegorical Map; John Jr Wiltberger, 1838

An early allegorical map of temperance. The land of Inebriation is at the bottom of the map, opposed to the land of Self Denial at the top, with many difficult paths to travel from the Ocean of Animal Appetite at the left to the Ocean of Eternity at the right. For example, one might navigate between the islands of Stupidity and Indulgence, through Devil's Trap, past the islands of Poverty and Murder, through the Great Gulf of Wretchedness and the Sea of Anguish into the Gulf of Perdition. This map is typical of "didactic" visual aids, "colorful and intricate temperance maps" intended to be "at once entertaining and instructive." Wiltberger was a Philadelphia minister, missionary to Liberia and temperance activist. The plate for this map found its way to a missionary school near Lahaina, Hawaii, where it was reprinted in 1843 - and apparently also printed with place names in Hawaiian rather than English.