Pitcairn's Island  Source  Whalesite

      pitcairn's island. – The singular manner in which a colony of a mixed race was planted in this remote spot is well known to the readers of this country; and great interest has been felt in every account we have received from it from time to time. The peculiar simplicity of manners, and purity of habits, which the first visiters found among them, offered a beautiful picture of what the precepts of Christianity may produce when even amidst many unfavourable circumstances. Adams, a reformed pirate, with the Bible in his hand, and inculcating the fine principles he had heard in his youth to the unprejudiced minds of the infants of the colony, soon moulded the little community into such a form as he desired; and the strangers who visited his island found such a state of moral purity as was not to be met with in other places. They have since been In danger of corruption, from the more frequent intercourse with strangers of different nations; and those who have felt interested in their welfare have almost feared to be informed of the results. We have lately learned one fact in relation to them, which we hope may in the end prove highly advantageous to them. Captain Wilcox, of the whaling ship Maria Theresa, arrived at New Bedford, informs, that while at Otaheite the English transport ship Lucian arrived there with all the inhabitants of Pitcairn's Island, with the purpose of fixing them in a settlement at Otaheite, on account of a scarcity of water at the former island. It appears, however, says the Mercury, that the idea has formerly occurred of the population of the island increasing beyond the means of subsistence to be afforded by so small a spot. In Captan Beechey's voyages to the Pacific, recently published, mention is made of a letter addressed to Captain Beechey by Mr. John Buffet, the clergyman of the colony, in which he describes the natives as being all satisfied at present with their little island, which they do not wish to leave; which remark be thinks it right to make in consequence of his having received a letter from Mr. Mott, missionary, saying that a ship was coming to remove the inhabitants of Pitcairn's Island to Otaheite or some other of the Friendly Islands. It is to be hoped that the pure and virtuous habits of the colony may not be affected by the removal. – American paper.

"Pitcairn's Island."
      The Times (London).
August 4, 1831, p. 4.

Pitcairn's Island  Source  Whalesite