Pitcairn's Island  Source  Whalesite

THE PITCAIRN ISLANDERS.^*

george h.nobbs, pastor of pitcairn.
[Click to enlarge image.]

      On the 23d of December, 1787, a ship of 215 tons sailed from England. She was appropriately named the Bounty, for her object was to convey from the South Sea Islands to the West Indies the breadfruit, and other valuable nutritive plants. Officers and men, there were on board forty- five souls. Of these there are seven to be especially noted for the parts which they played in the drama to be enacted.

      William Bligh, the commander, was a lieutenant in the royal navy, about thirty-four years old. He had served four years under Captain Cook, with whom he had visited Tahiti and the adjacent islands. The knowledge thus acquired probably led to his appointment to the command of the Bounty. He was one of that class of men formed only in the navy. On shore, to all appearance, a courteous gentleman; on ship a coarse, rude, and vulgar tyrant.

      Fletcher Christian, mate and acting lieutenant of the Bounty, was a young man of five-and twenty, born on the Isle of Man, of a good family, and evidently well educated. He had twice before sailed with Bligh, by whom he was chosen as mate of the Bounty.

      Edward Young, midshipman, nephew of a baronet, was a young man of twenty-two, notable as the last survivor save one of the actual mutineers.

      George Stewart, midshipman, is described by Bligh as "a young man of creditable parents in the Orkneys; at which place, on the return of the Resolution from the South Seas, in 1780, we received so many civilities that, on that account only, I should gladly have taken him with

me; but, independent of this recommendation, he was a seaman, and had always borne a good character."

      James Morrison, boatswain's mate, was about twenty-eight years of age, and in acquirements quite above his position. His journal, cited by Barrow, and given almost in full by Lady Belcher, forms the main evidence as to the nature of the mutiny, and of much that followed.

      Peter Heywood, midshipman, was a lad of fourteen; of a wealthy family, friends of Bligh. He was taken from school to embark on this expedition, Bligh promising to look to the lad.

      Alexander Smith, "able-bodied seaman," whom we shall hereafter come to know by the name of John Adams, which he long afterward assumed, was the father of the colony on Pitcairn Island.

      Besides these seven, the officers and men of the Bounty differed little, for better or worse, from any body of men picked up for a long voyage. A good commander might have made a fair crew of them. How they turned out under Bligh is to be shown.

      We propose only to give the barest outlines of the voyage of the I3ount,. Hardly had the vessel left England when the commander began to show his true character. Some cheese was missing from the ship's stores; Bligh ordered no more to be given out till the deficiency had been made good. Among the stores were a large quantity of pumpkins; as they neared the equator these began to spoil; Bligh ordered them to be served out instead of bread. The men demurred; the commander swore that they must take what he gave them, adding, "I'll make you eat grass, or any thing you can catch, before I have done with yon;" and, moreover, he would flog the first man who dared to make any complaint. Whenever any cask of provisions was broached the best pieces always went to the cabin table. One day a sheep died, and Bligh ordered the carcass to be served up for the men. It would, he said, make "a delicious meal." The men threw it overboard, and made their dinner of dried sharks' flesh.

      And so on for page after page of Morrison's journal. Meanwhile the Bounty, after vainly trying, in April, 1788, to round the stormy Cape Horn, shot over to the Cape of Good Hope, whence she set sail for the Pacific islands, reaching Tahiti in October, ten months after leaving England. Disputes and quarrels enough had arisen among the officers, the upshot of which, as the boatswain's mate noted, was that "Mr. Bligh and his messmates, the master and surgeon, fell ont and separated, each taking his part of the stock, and retiring to lice in his own cabin, only speaking to each other when on duty."

      Arriving at Tahiti, the real work of the expedition began. It lasted for months; but early in April, 1789, more than a thousand plants had been collected and safely stowed away, and the Bounty set sail homeward. Of the wearisome quarrels which marked the long interval we take no note. They came to a point on the 27th of April, the ship being then not far from the island of Tofoa. Bligh missed some cocoa-nuts, which he said must have been stolen by the men, with the connivance of the officers. Christian said, "You don't believe me guilty of stealing your nuts?" "Yes," replied Bligh, "you —— hound, I do think so. You —— rascals, you are all thieves alike, and combine with the men to rob me. You will steal my yams next. I will flog you and make you jump overboard before we reach Endeavor Straits."

      All this was neither better nor worse than what had taken place daily for months. But it was the last straw which broke the camel's back. Christian said nothing, hut went to his own cabin. Soon after Bligh sent, asking him to dine with him. Christian declined, pleading illness. He had already formed a plan to escape from the vessel upon a raft which he had constructed with the knowledge of some of his shipmates. Mere accident changed his plans. The morning watch of April 28 belonged to him. Going on deck in the gray dawn he found the officers asleep, and himself in actual command. "Why not take possession of the vessel ?" he thought. He stepped down into the steerage, spoke for a moment with seven of the crew who he knew were dissatisfied with Bligh. They agreed with him, and in a few minutes the plot was conceived and executed. The arms were seized by an artifi6e, and the eight held control of the vessel. When young Heywood, awakened by some noise, came upon deck, lie found Bligh pinioned, and in his shirt-sleeves, guarded by some of the mutineers. Some one told him, "Mr. Christian has taken possession of the vessel, and is going to carry Lieutenant Bligh a prisoner to England."

      What followed for the next few hours is almost a whirl; no one, not even clear-headed James Morrison, could fairly make it out. But the upshot was that Christian resolved to send Bligh and a part of the crew adrift in the ship's launch. Bligh entreated that Christian would relent: "I'll pawn my honor, Mr. Christian; I'll give my word never to think of this if you will desist. Consider my wife and family."

      "No," rejoined Christian; "if you had any honor, things would not have come to this extremity; and if you had any regard for your wife and family, you should hive thought of them before, and not have behaved so like a villain as you have donc." The boatswain then tried to soften Christian. "It is too late," was the reply; "I have been in hell this fortnight, and am determined to hear it no longer. You know that during the whole voyage I have been treated like a dog."

      The surgeon had died a few weeks before, and there were forty-four persons in all. Nineteen of these were forced into the launch, an open boat only twenty-three feet long, into which were placed the carpenter's tool-chest, one hundred and fifty pounds of bread, thirty-

two pounds of pork, six quarts of rum, six bottles of wine, twenty-eight gallons of water, and four empty barrels. No arms were allowed, and the only instruments of navigation were a sextant and a book of nautical tables. When all were on board, the gunwales were only a few inches above the water. The selection of those to be sent away and those to be kept is inexplicable. The number who took any actual part in the mutiny was not more than twelve. Of the twenty-five who remained at least four wire kept by absolute force. Some of the others remained only because they believed that the launch would he lost if she went to sea, and if the men went upon any island they would be killed by the natives.

      The launch having been set adrift, the Bounty was cleared of all the plants and curiosities which had been collected, and under the command of Christian cruised for weeks among the islands to find a favorable place for a settlement. The little island of Toobonai, fertile, wooded almost to the water's edge, and surrounded by coral reefs, was chosen. The Bounty then sailed for Tahiti, where live stock and provisions were gathered, when she put back to Toobonai, where she arrived on the 23d of June. The site of a fort was marked out; but the natives attacked the settlers, and a number of conflicts ensued, in which Christian and another were severely wounded, and a number of the natives slain. Many of the men also—those especially who had taken no active part in the mutiny— were not disposed to pass their days on this island. So it was decided by a majority of two to one that the Bounty should return to Tahiti, where the vessel was to be given to Christian and those who chose to remain with him; and that every thing else should be fairly divided among all hands. On the 22d of September, a week less than five months after the seizure of the ship, the division was made. Sixteen men, among whom were Heywood and Morrison, remained at Tahiti. Nine chose to go with the Bounty.

      Christian, for himself and his associates, argued thus: "If Bligh reaches England a ship of war will certainly be sent out in search of us. Those of you who had no share in the mutiny had better give yourselves up on the first opportunity; as for us who took part in the seizure of the vessel, we will find some uninhabited island where we will live the remainder of our days without seeing the face of any man except ourselves."

      Every man of Christian's party had acquired a wife at Tahiti; and they had also made friends with several natives, who were willing to share their fortunes. Among the books on board the Bounty was Carteret's "Voyage to the South Seas," wherein mention was made of Pitcairn Island, a lonely rock seldom seen by mariners. Christian fixed upon this as his place of refuge. When his party were all gathered, there were himself and his eight comrades, six islanders, and twelve women, one of whom had an infant: in all twenty-eight souls. Christian was the last to embark. He bade farewell to those left behind; and at noon of the 23d of September, 1789, the Bounty, heading northward, was faintly discerned in the distance. For twenty years all on board were lost to human view as completely as though they had been swallowed up in the ocean

      We now turn to Bligh and his eighteen companions who had been set adrift in the launch of the Bounty. The voyage which was performed is the most notable of the kind on record. For its details we are indebted wholly to Bligh's own journal.

      Bligh's first action was naturally to land on Tofoa, in order to get fruits and water. The landing party climbed the cliff's and obtained about a score of cocoa-nuts, when they were attacked by the natives, and one man was stoned to death. It was then resolved to make no more landings, but to put straight away for the island of Timor, twelve hundred leagues distant. To make this voyage their food must be husbanded to the utmost. Bligh laid the matter before the men; told them that they must live on an ounce of bread and a quarter of a pint of water a day; and that they must promise not to break further into their scanty store. To this they agreed. That they should have made this promise is natural; but that starving men should have faithfully kept it is marvelous. The boat was so crowded that while one half of the crew were sitting the other half were obliged to lie down on the bottom, so closely that they were unable to stretch their limbs.

      We will give snatches from Bligh's journal, commencing on the 3d of May, when the voyage had fairly begun:

      "May 3. At 8 it blew a violent storm, and the sea ran very high, curling over the how of the boat, which obliged us to bail with all our might. I served a teaspoonful of rem to each person with a quarter of a breadfruit, which was scarcely eatable, for dinner.— May 4. Our limbs were so benumbed that we could scarcely find the use of them. I served a tea-spoonful of rum to each person, from which we all felt great benefit — May 6. Passed numerous islands, at none of which I ventured to land. We hooked a fish, but were miserably disappointed by its being lost in trying to get it Into the boat. — May 7. Being very wet and cold, I served a spoonful of rum and a morsel of bread for breakfast. We kept sailing among islands, from one of which two large canoes came out in chase of na; hut we left them behind. — During the next week the wet weather continued, with heavy seas and squalls. As there was no prospect of getting our clothes dried, my plan was to make every one strip and wring them 'through the salt-water, by which means they received a warmth that, while wet with rain, they could not have had. The sight of islands, which we were always passing, served only to increase the misery of our situation. We were very little better than starving with plenty in view; yet to attempt procuring any relief was attended with so much danger, that prolonging life, even in the midst of misery, was thought preferable, while there remained hopes of being able to surmount our hardships — May 17 At dawn of day I found every person complaining, and some of them solicited extra allowance, which I positively refused."/p…

chart of part of the south sea.
[Click to enlarge image.]

      And so on for another week, when Bligh took account of the provisions remaining. The bread had been weighed out, the weight of a pistol-ball — twenty-five to the pound — being served out for breakfast, dinner, and supper. At this rate it would last twenty-nine days. But as it was doubtful whether they would reach Timor in that time, it was determined to make the supply last six weeks. This was done by omitting the allowance for supper. The scanty meals were, however, now and then increased front outside sources. On the morning of the 25th, a flock of "noddies" — a bird about as large as a pigeon — came near the boat. One was caught, divided into eighteen parts, and eaten raw, entrails and all. It never rains but it pours. In the evening a flock of "boobies" — a bird as large as a duck — appeared. One got his legs within seizing distance and was caught. He was quickly divided, the blood being given as a cordial to those who seemed the most exhausted.

      Better than the birds themselves was the assurance which their presence gave that land was not far off; for these birds never fly far from shore. On the 28th was heard the sound of the breakers dashing upon the long barrier reef of 'what we now call Australia. They shot through an opening in the reef, and found themselves in water as smooth as that of an inland harbor. They landed on a little island apparently uninhabited, the rocky shores of which were covered with oysters. By the aid of a magnifying-glass a fire was made, and the men had a hearty meal. They staid here two days, faring sumptuously on oysters stewed with palm-tops and bits of bread and pork, and moreover filled their water-casks, when they were frightened off by the appearance of a band of armed natives. They landed on one or two other islands, upon one of which the men who had before been so obedient almost broke out into mutiny, which Bligh, however, quelled. At night a party of three was sent out to hunt for boobies. They returned, minus one of their number, with a dozen birds; but said that Lamb, the missing man, had gone ahead, and scared the birds from their roosting-places. Lamb made his appearance in the morning looking quite comfortable, but saying little. But he afterward owned that during the night he had caught and eaten nine birds — which, if true, is one of the greatest gastronomic feats on record.

      On the 30th of June they left the coast of Australia, heading for Timor. On the 5th a booby was caught; next day the allowance of bread for supper was recommenced. On the 7th, the sea running high, and breaking over the whole boat, some of the men seemed fast giving way. A spoonful or two of wine— the last left, was given to these, and to the rest an ounce of dried clams, exhausting the store which they had made on the Australian key. This revived them somewhat. On the 8th a dolphin was caught. On the l(th matters seemed to be at the worst. "There was," says Bligh. "a visible alteration in many of the people, which gave me great apprehensions. An extreme weakness, swelled legs, hollow and ghastly countenances, a more than common inclination to sleep, with an apparent debility of understanding, seemed to me the melancholy presage of an approaching dissolution." But the next day all was changed. Bligh, having succeeded in taking an observation, announced that they had passed the meridian of the eastern part of Timor. On the following morning the island was seen only two leagues away.

      They coasted along until, on Sunday, the 14th of June, they entered the Dutch harbor of Coupang. "Our bodies," says Bligh, "were nothing but skin and bones; our limbs were full of sores; we were clothed in rags. It appeared hardly credible to ourselves that in an open boat, and so poorly provided, we should have been able to reach the coast of Timor in forty- one days after leaving Tofoa, having in that time run, by our log, a distance of 3618 miles; and that, notwithstanding our extreme distress, no one should have perished on the voyage."

      Bligh and his companions were provided by the Dutch with passages for England. Five, however, died before reaching home; one was left behind at Batavia, and never afterward heard of; one had been killed at Tofoa; so that of the nineteen sent off from the Bounty, only twelve reached England.

      Bligh himself landed at the Isle of Wight on the 14th of March, 1790, ten months and a half after the outbreak of the mutiny. His journal was soon published. In this he says nothing of the outrageous conduct on his part which had led to the mutiny. Of the cause of this, he says, "I can only conjecture that the mutineers had flattered themselves with the hopes of a more happy life among the Tahitans than they could possibly enjoy in England; and this, joined to some female connections, most probably occasioned the whole transaction." Of his conduct on the open-boat voyage there could be no question; and he was welcomed with extraordinary favor. In 1791 he was sent in command of another vessel, the Providence, to the South Seas, to collect breadfruit plants. He reached Tahiti in the spring of 1792. In three months he collected 1200 young plants, which he carried to the West Indies; and for the successful result of his expedition he received the gold medal of the Society of Arts. But the bread-fruit did not flourish in its new home, where it was found every way inferior to the plantain. So, as far as ultimate results were concerned, the enterprise proved a failure.

      Bligh rose rapidly in the navy. in 1797 he gained great credit for his conduct in suppressing the famous mutiny at the Nore; commanded a ship in the naval battles of Cape St. Vincent and Camperdown, and in 1801, at the bombardment of Copenhagen, upon which occasion he was publicly thanked by Nelson for the efficient support which he had given during the action. In 1805 he was appointed Governor of New South Wales, where, in 1808, his arbitrary conduct occasioned a mutiny. Colonel Johnstone, the military commander, deposed Bligh, and sent him back to England; for which the Colonel was tried by court-martial and cashiered. Bligh then retired from active service, but rose to the rank of Vice-Admiral of the Blue. In private life, as Lady Belcher admits, "he displayed amiability of character." He died at London in 1829.

      The British government decided to send a vessel to the South Seas to search out and bring back the remainder of the mutineers of the Bounty. The vessel selected was the Pandora, 24 guns and 160 men, Captain Edwards commander. As lieutenants went Thomas Hayward and John Ballet, the two midshipmen of the Bounty whose falling asleep on their watch had given opportunity for Christian to seize the vessel. Many delays had taken place in fitting out the vessel; and it was not until the 23d of March, 1791, eighteen months after Christian and his companions had left the island, that the Pandora entered Maatavaye Bay in Tahiti.

      The sixteen men who had refused to follow the fortunes of Christian had meanwhile separated into various parties, and resided in different parts of the island. The two midshipmen, George Stewart and Peter Heywood, became favorites of Tippaoo, a chief who owned most of the land near the bay, whose daughter was soon married to Stewart. Young Heywood allowed himself to he tattooed, to please his island friends, but formed none of the alliances so common between Europeans and native women. He busied himself in studying the language, of which he wrote a long vocabulary, which afterward became of great use to the missionaries.

      Morrison and four others set at work to build a vessel, in which they hoped to leave the island and make their way to Batavia, whence they could find a passage to England. In November, 1789, the keel of the boat was laid; and in the July following she was launched. She was named the Resolution; she was schooner- rigged, measuring thirty feet in length, with a breadth of nine feet and a half, and a depth of five feet. Considering the means at the disposal of the builders, the Resolution was a marvel. All the tools which they had consisted of a hand-saw and some small axes, with which they had to cut down the trees and hew them into planks. For pitch they used the gum of the bread-fruit tree, of which a man could gather only a quarter of a pound in a day. They had also to deceive the chiefs, by pretending that the purpose of the boat was that of a pleasure-vessel, for voyaging around the island. Unfortunately, they had no adequate material for sails, and were forced to conclude that without them there was no chance of reaching Batavia.

      Those of the people who had taken no part in the mutiny had been anxiously awaiting some means of returning to England. When the Pandora appeared in the offing Coleman put off to her in a canoe, which was swamped, and he narrowly escaped drowning. Heywood and Stewart soon followed, announced who they were, and were immediately put in irons. The remainder were sought out in different parts of the island and brought on board. Two were missing. They had been killed in a quarrel.

      The treatment of the prisoners was barbar-

ous. They were put in irons and a sentinel placed over them, with orders to shoot any one who should speak in the Tahitan language. A "box" was soon constructed on the deck for their reception. It measured eleven feet by eighteen, and was entered by a scuttle from the top. Two sentries paced upon its top. All the prisoners were heavily ironed by the ankles tend wrists. One man, whose limbs were slight, managed one night to slip a leg from the fetters. These were ordered to be made tighter. "The lieutenant," writes Morrison, "in trying the handcuffs, placed his foot against our breasts, and hauling them over our hands with all his strength, in several cases took off the skin with them. All the irons that could be hauled off in this manner were reduced, and fitted so close that there was no possibility of turning the hand in them. When our wrists began to swell be told us that the handcuffs were not intended to fit like gloves."

      Their native friends swarmed around the Pandora; but few were permitted to speak with the prisoners. An exception was made in the case of "Peggy," the girl whom Stewart had married-. She came on board with her infant in her arms. She clung to her husband, who was lying heavily ironed, until it was necessary to remove her by force. He begged that she might not be allowed to see him again. But day after day, until far into the night, she remained on the beach, where she could at least see his prison. In vain did her father urge her to take rest. She kept ever at her post, and in a few weeks after the departure of the Pandora she died of a broken heart.

      The Pandora cruised about for weeks vainly searching for Christian and his companions. At length, in August, she sailed homeward, heading first for the island of Timor. The sufferings of the prisoners were intolerable. They had no means of steadying themselves, and when the ship lurched they were pitched together in a heap, wounding themselves and each other wills their irons. Some pieces of plank were at length fastened to the deck to keep them apart. On the 28th of August, while passing through Endeavor Straits, at the northern extremity of Australia, the Pandora ran upon a reef. For what followed we quote from Morrison's journal:

      "The ship was forced farther on the reef with violent and repeated shocks, and we expected every surge that the masts would go by the board. As we were in danger at every shock of killing each other with our irons, we broke them that we might be ready to assist ourselves, and informed the officers of what we had done. In the mean time the ship lost her rudder, and with it a part of her stern-post, and having beat over the reef she was brought up in fifteen feet water with both anchors, and the first news was, 'nine feet of water in the hold!' Coleman, Norman, and M'Intosh were ordered out of the box to the pumps, and the boats were got out. As soon as Captain Edwards was informed that we had broken our irons, he ordered us to be handcuffed and leg-ironed again, with all the irons that could be mustered.

      "At daylight, August 29th, the boats were hauled up, most of the officers being aft on the top of the 'box;' we observed that they were armed, and preparing to go into the boats by the stern ladders. We begged that we might not be forgotten, when by the captain's orders the armorer's mate was sent down to take the irons off Muspratt and Skinner, and send them and Byrne (who was then out of irons) up; but Skinner was hauled up with his handcuffs on, and the other two following close, the scuttle was shut and barred before the mate could get to it, and he, in the mean time, knocked oft my hand-irons and Stewart's. I begged the master-at-arms to leave the scuttle open, when he answered, 'Never fear, my boys, we will all go down together.' The words were scarcely out of his mouth when the ship took a sally, and a general cry of, ' There she goes!' was heard. The master-at- arms, corporal, and sentinels rolled overboard, and I saw Captain Edwards swimming to the pinnace,which was some distance astern. Birkett and Heildbrant were yet handcuffed, and the ship was under water as far as the main-mast. It was now beginning to flow in upon us, when Providence directed the boatswain's mate to the place. He was scrambling up on the box, when, hearing our cries, he said he would either set us free or go to the bottom with us, and took out the bolts, throwing them and the scuttle overboard, though he was forced to follow instantly, as he was nearly drowning."

      Morrison swam to one of the gangways which was drifting by, upon which was one of his fellow-prisoners. The top of the "box" had floated, and upon it were Heywood and four others. These were all rescued by one of the boats, and landed on a little sandy quay two or three miles from the ship. Of the crew of the Pandora thirty-one were lost; of the prisoners four, among whom was Stewart, the husband of "Peggy," daughter of the Tahitan chief. Peter Heywood, in a letter to his sister, written while he was awaiting his trial, gives a brief account of what occurred on shore:

      "I send you two little sketches of the manner in which the Pandora went down, and of the appearance we who survived made on the small sandy quay within the reef (about ninety yards long and sixty athwart), in all ninety-nine souls. There we remained three days, subsisting upon two ounces of bread and a single wineglass of wine and water a day, and no shelter from the meridian (and then vertical) sun. Captain Edwards had tents erected for himself and his people, and we prisoners petitioned him for an old sail which was lying useless, part of the wreck, but he refused it, and all the shelter we had was to bury ourselves up to the neck in the burning sand, which scorched the skin as if we had been dipped in boiling water."

      These pictures, drawn of course from memory, are given upon the next page. Morrison's journal gives details of what followed. They tried for water, but could find none. The lieutenant filled a kettle with salt water, set it a-boiling, and watched all night collecting the steam which was condensed from the spout. The result was a spoonful of fresh water. On the third day they embarked in four boats, and headed for the Dutch settlement on Timor, four or five hundred leagues distant. The conduct of Captain Edwards was as brutal as it had been on the Pandora, and the sufferings of all were not inferior to those of Bligh and his companions on the sanie voyage. On the 16th of September they reached Coupang, the same place where Bligh had landed more than two years before. Here the prisoners remained in irons for three weeks; then sailed for Batavia, which they

wreck of the pandora.                        on the sandy islet.
[Click to enlarge image.]

reached after a tedious voyage of a month. Thence they were shipped to the Cape of Good Hope, where they arrived on the 15th of January, 1792. Here they remained, still in irons, till April, when they were sent on to England, landing on the 19th of June, four years and three months after they had sailed in the Bounty. Fifteen months had been passed in irons since they had come on board the Pandora.

      A court-martial, presided over by Admiral Hood, was convened on the 12th of September. The court lasted a week. Of the ten prisoners three were acquitted, it being clearly shown that they took no part in the mutiny, and were detained by Christian against their will. The others were found guilty, but the verdict in the case of Heywood and Morrison was accompanied by a recommendation that they should receive an unconditional pardon. So fully, indeed, must the court have been convinced of their innocence that as soon as the pardon was granted Morrison was promoted to the rank of gunner in the navy; and Admiral Hood offered to take Heywood on board his own vessel. Heywood, now only nineteen years of age, rose with almost unexampled rapidity from the rank of midshipman to those of commander, post-captain, and flag-captain; being finally placed in command of a 74-gun ship. At the close of the war in 1814 he retired from the navy, married a widow, whose daughter by a former husband is the Lady Belcher who wrote the book under notice; and being in possession of an ample fortune, devoted himself to literary, scientific, and philanthropic enterprises. In 1818 he was offered the command on the lakes of Canada, which he declined. In 1829 he was urged to accept the post of head of the Hydro- graphical Department of the Admiralty. This he declined on account of failing health. He died in 1831.

      We left Fletcher Christian and his companions in the Bounty on the 23d of September, 1789, sailing northward. For nineteen years no human eye beheld the wanderers; and only one of the refugees ever thereafter saw a human being except his companions.

      In 1808 the whale-ship Topaz, of Boston, Captain Folger, chanced to be cruising near a rocky islet, upon the shore of which the surf was breaking so furiously that it seemed inaccessible. A canoe was seen putting off through the breakers, and the occupants hailed the ship, offering. in good English, their services if any one wished to land. One of the sailors volunteered to go ashore in the canoe. He soon came back with a strange report. The first man whom he met on the island said his name was Alexander Smith, and that he was the sole survivor of the crew of the Bounty; that including himself' there were now thirty-five persons on the island. Captain Folger then went ashore, received some further information, and in return told the islanders something of what had happened in the world for the last score of years: how there had been a revolution in France: how there was a man named Bonaparte who had become emperor; how there had been great wars; and England had won glorious victories on the sea. Upon bearing this the islander. broke into a loud hurrah, exclaiming, "Old England forever!"

      Captain Folger returned to his ship, made a note in his log-book, and upon reaching Valparaiso furnished an account of what he had seen, which was duly forwarded to England. But just then the British government had matters of more importance on hand than to attend to the case of a few people on a lonely island upon the other side of the globe. So the curtain which had been lifted for a moment fell again for another six years, when it was again raised by accident.

      In 1814 the frigates Briton, Captain Staines, and Tagus, Captain Pipon, were cruising in the Pacific in search of the American sloop-of-war Essex, which had captured several British whalers. As evening fell they suddenly came in sight of a small but lofty island, two hundred miles from where, according to their charts, any island ought to have been. They looked at their charts; no island was there. They looked to sea, and there the island certainly was, rising sheer up a thousand feet from the water's edge. Morning broke, and there still stood the island, and groups of people were standing on the rocks.

[Click to enlarge image.]

Presently two men were seen launching a canoe, into which they sprung and paddled to the ships. "Won't you heave us a rope now?" was the cheery hail. This was done, and a tall young man of five-and-twenty sprang on board. "Who are you ?" was the question. "I am Thursday October Christian, son of Fletcher Christian, the mutineer, by a Tahitan mother, and the first born on this island." The other, a young man of eighteen, was Edward Young, son of another of the mutineers of whom we have spoken.

      The young men were full of wonder at what they saw. A cow astonished, and perhaps frightened them a little. Goats and pigs were the only animals they had ever seen. A little dog pleased them greatly. "I know that's a dog," said Edward; "I have read of such things." Captain Staines ordered refreshments to be prepared for them in his cabin. Before sitting down they folded their hands and asked a blessing, which they repeated at the close of the meal. They had been taught to do this, they said, by their pastor, John Adams; for it appears that Alexander Smith went also by this name, which we shall hereafter give him.

      The two captains went on shore, and climbed the steep ascent to the village, where the whole community, headed by John Adams and his blind wife, were waiting to receive them. He was something past fifty, stout and healthy in appearance, though with a care-worn expression of countenance. He stood, hat in hand, smoothing his thin gray locks, as he had been wont, sailor-fashion, to do a quarter of a century ago when addressing his officers. On being assured that no harm should happen to him, he told the story of what had occurred since the Bounty disappeared.

      The narrative (which Barrow relates in a somewhat contradictory manner) runs thus • For two months the Bounty cruised about in search of Pitcairn Island. When at last they discovered it, the vessel was dismantled, every movable article, even to the planks from her sides, taken ashore; fire was then set to the hull, and the charred remains sunk in twenty- fire fathoms' water. The arable part of the island was then divided into equal shares among the nine whites, the Tahitans being evidently considered almost as slaves. Christian himself, apprehending that he would be followed even to his lonely retreat, found a cave far up the mountain-side, where he kept a stock of provisions, and spent much of his time gazing over the waste of waters, watching for the dreaded appearance of a sail, and reading a Bible and Prayer-book.^*

      For two or three years every thing went on prosperously. Then the wife of Williams was killed by falling over the rocks. He undertook to take the wife of one of the Tahitans, whose.comrades formed a plot to murder all the Englishmen. The plot was discovered and revealed by the wives of the whites. Two of the Tahitans fled to the mountains, where they were killed by the others, to whom pardon had been offered if they would do so. Meantime, two of the men, Quintal and M'Koy, had succeeded in distilling alcohol from a root, were constantly drunk, and abusive toward the natives, who again determined to murder all the whites. Five— Christian, Mills, Williams, Martin, and Brown— were killed on the spot; Smith fled severely wounded down the rocks, but the Tahitans promised to spare his life if he would return; Young was hidden by the women, with whom he was a favorite; Quintal and M'Koy fled to the mountains, where they remained until summoned back, peace having apparently been restored. But the whites felt that their only security lay in the death of the natives; they fell upon them by surprise and killed them all. Soon, however, M'Koy while drunk fell over the rocks, and Quintal became so outrageous that Adams and Young killed him in self- defense.

      These two were now the sole survivors of the fifteen men who had seven years before landed upon the island. How and when occurred the great change which took place in these two men is not told. All that is told is, that they sought out the Bible and Prayer-book of Christian, and entered a most religious life. Young died of asthma, in 1800, not, however, until he had instructed Adams, who could barely read, and not write; and he, the sole man on the island, became the guardian and instructor of a community of more than a score of women and young children. As the children grew up they were married by Adams, according to the form laid down in the Prayer-book, the ring, used for all, having been made by him. The son of Christian took for wife the widow of Edward Young, a woman quite old enough to be his mother, and so became step-father to the tall

maria christian, ellen quintal, sarah m'koy.
[Click to enlarge image.]

young man, almost of his own age, who accompanied him on his visit to the British ship.

      If the islanders were astonished at their visitors, the latter were no less amazed at the aspect of this little community. The island, apparently about a dozen miles in circuit, rose to the height of a thousand feet, the steep cliffs down to the water's edge being clothed with palm, banyan, cocoa-nut, and bread-fruit trees, while in the valleys were plantations of taro- root, yams, and sweet-potatoes. The village, which consisted of five houses, that being the number of families, was situated on a level platform high above the ocean, shaded with broad- leafed bananas and plantains. The houses were of wood, two stories in height, each having its pig-pen, poultry-house, bakery, and another for the manufacture of tappa, the substitute for cloth, a kind of paper made by pounding together layers of the inner hark of trees. The population now numbered forty-six. The young men, all born on the island, were finely formed, tall, the average height being five feet ten inches, some of them exceeding six feet. The young women were also tall, one, not the tallest, was five feet ten inches. All had white teeth, and profuse black hair, neatly dressed. and ornamented with wreaths of flowers. '[heir features were of a decidedly European cast, the complexion being a clear brunette. '('heir dress consisted of a loose bodice reaching from waist to knees, with a sort of mantle thrown over the shoulder, and reaching to the ankles, which was thrown aside when at work. Their feet were bare. A photograph, taken many years after, of Maria Christian, Ellen Quintal, and Sarah M'Koy, daughters of these young women, gives a perfect representation of those who were seen by the English captains. The young people were then mostly unmarried, for Adams discouraged very early marriages, as the girls would then necessarily be occupied with the care of their children; trod he also inculcated upon the young men the necessity of having made some provision for a family before entering into any matrimonial engagement.

The older women were mainly occupied in making tappa; the younger worked in the fields with their fathers and brothers. Their strength and agility astonished their visitors. "One of them," says Captain Pipon, "accompanied us to the boat, carrying on her shoulders, as a present, a large basket of yams, over such roads and precipices as were scarcely passable by any creatures except goats, and over which we could scarcely scramble with the help of our hands. Yet with this load on her shoulders she skipped from rock to rock like a young roe." Both sexes were expert swimmers.

      More even than by their attractive persons were the visitors charmed by the gentle manners and sincere piety of the islanders. "What most delighted us," writes Captain Pipon, "was the conviction which John Adams had impressed on the minds of these young people of the propriety and necessity of returning thanks to the Almighty for the many blessings which they enjoy. They never omit saying grace before and after meals, and never think of touching food without asking a blessing from Him who gave it. They repeat the Lord's Prayer and the Creed morning and evening."

      For another ten years we have no record of the people, though the island was two or three times visited by whalers. In 1823 a vessel stopped there, and one of the crew was so charmed that he asked permission to remain. His name was John Buffett, a young man of much intelligence. He was received, and soon appointed to act as schoolmaster. About the same time another seaman, John Evans, was left by a whaler. Perhaps the charms of the young women had much to do with this. At all events, Buffett married a daughter of Young, and Evans one of Adams's.

      In 1825 Captain Beechy, of the Resolute, being on a voyage of discovery, stopped at the island. He remained three weeks, and his account confirms all that had been said by Staines and Pipon. He found the population to be sixty-six. The Resolute was provided with a chaplain, and Adams embraced the opportunity of being formally married to the blind, bedridden old woman who had been his companion for five-and-thirty years.

      John Adams died in 1829, surrounded by the flock to whom he had so long been a parent. But a successor had been strangely raised up for him.

      A year before a little launch of eighteen tons, with two men on board, appeared at the island. They had sailed from Callao, in Peru, 3500 miles away. One of the men was so worn out that he died in a few days. The other, a man of thirty, who gave his name as George Hunn Nobbs, said he had come to end his days on the island. He possessed a good education, and had acquired some knowledge of surgery. His earnest manner pleased the old patriarch, and he was appointed schoolmaster and surgeon. He soon married the grand-daughter of Fletcher Christian, and daughter of that little girl who had been brought an infant on the Bounty, and upon his death-bed Adams appointed him pastor.

      For more than thirty-five years no one knew any thing of his history and antecedents. He first disclosed it in 1852 to Admiral Moresby. He was the illegitimate son of a British marquis, whose name is not given, and so we are ignorant of the name — Paget, Cholmondeley, Cecil, Stewart, Beresford, or what not — to which he had such right as an illegitimate son has to his father's name, instead of the one which he assumed. His mother, to whom he was always tenderly attached, was the daughter of an Irish baronet, who, having been implicated in the Irish rebellion, was lost in attempting to escape to France. His mother formed a fixed resolution that he should never accept a favor from his father's family, and on her death-bed, when he was two-and-twenty years old, she exacted of him a promise that he would not even use a sum of money invested a score of years before for his support. She placed him with a family named Nobbs, and insisted that he should assume their name. In 1811, then being twelve years old, he was placed in the navy through the influence of Admiral Murray. But, after some years, his mother learning that inquiries had been made about him— probably by his father— took him from the navy and placed him at school. In 1816 he accepted a berth on a vessel fitted out for the service of the South American patriots. Of his adventures we can here give but a bare outline. While in charge of a prize he was captured by the Spaniards, and set to carrying stones to repair the forts at Callao, wearing irons of fifty pounds' weight. He escaped by secreting himself on board a New Bedford whaler, rejoined his ship, which made many prizes; and in 1817 he was able, he says, to send $700 to his "poor mother, who sadly needed it." In 1818, he, with thirty-six others, in an open launch, cut out a large merchant-ship from under the guns of Arica. His share of the prize-money amounted to $2000, half of which he sent to his mother. In the succeeding three years he took part in several hazardous enterprises, among which was Cochrane's famous exploit of cutting out a Spanish frigate from under the guns of Callao. In 1822 he was recalled to England by his mother, who soon died. In 1823 he went to Sierra Leone as chief mate of a vessel. Of nineteen persons only four lived to return. In 1824 he went back to Africa as commander of the same ship, and lay sick with fever for six weeks, but recovered so as to take his ship back. He then resolved to quit England forever, and take up his residence on Pitcairn Island. Collecting bis little property, he sailed for Calcutta in 1825. There he remained nearly two years; then sailed on the ship Ocean, of New York, for Callao. Here, after much delay, he found a man named Bunker, who had an unfinished

launch, which he had no means of completing. Nobbs invested all his means in purchasing a share of this, on condition that the two should sail in her for Pitcairn Island, where he arrived on the 28th of October, after a voyage of six weeks, and began his new life, of which we shall have more to say.

      In 1830 a severe drought occurred on the island, and fears were felt that its small area would not afford support to the population, and after anxious deliberation it was resolved to. emigrate to Tahiti, where Queen Pomare offered them a large grant of fertile land. They went next year in a government vessel. But the gross licentiousness of the Tahitans was abhorrent to the pure Pitcairners, and they returned in six months.

      Pitcairn Island had already come to be frequently visited by ships, and in 1832 a man of nearly sixty years landed. He called himself.Joshua Hill; said he belonged to the family of the Duke of Bedford, and had been sent by the British government to assume chief authority an the island. The simple natives were, above all things, anxious to be recognized as a part of the British empire. They yielded faith to Hill's representations; and he set up, and for six years maintained, a reign of terror. He determined first of all to drive off the three Englishmen. When Nobbs was taken sick, Hill forbade his friends from visiting him, and refused to allow him medicines from the general chest. Buffett was brought, upon some trumpery charge, before a court, of which Hill was judge, jury, and executioner. Buffett was hung up by the hands, beaten till his head was broken and his hand dislocated, flogged with a cat-o'-nine-tails, and fined. Hill endeavored to induce Evans's wife to leave him; not succeeding in this, he tried to have Evans taken away by a man-of-war, which happened to arrive. Failing in this, he promulgated a law of treason, and when Evans asked for a written copy of it, he was tried and flogged. It is impossible to recount a tenth of the mad freaks of this man. The result was that the three Englishmen and their families were driven from the island, remaining absent for some years.

      Finally, however, the islanders were convinced that Hill was an impostor, and petitioned that he might be taken away. In 1838, after six years, a British ship was sent to take him to Valparaiso. Who the man was, whence he came, and what further became of him, no one knows. After Hill's deportation the exiles returned, and Mr. Nobbs, by special request of the islanders, resumed the exercise of his functions.

      During the following ten years the island was visited more frequently, especially by whalers to procure water and vegetables, for which they bartered articles which the inhabitants needed. Shoes were in special demand; but the women had yet to go barefoot, for ladies' shoes formed no part,of the outfit of a whaler. Even the roughest Tailors were touched by the honesty and piety of this people, and one of them declared that if any insult were offered to any of them, especially to a female, the offender would not live long after he came on board the vessel. In 1841 influenza broke out, and carried off a tenth of the people. In that year the British ship Curaçoa touched at the island, and the captain, having ascertained the spot where the Bounty had been sunk, succeeded in raising the charred hull; her oaken timbers were sound after a submersion of half a century. The captain was able to tell them of the career of Peter Heywood; and Isabella Christian, the aged widow of the leader of the mutineers, sent a present of tappa to "Peter's wife." She had a perfect remembrance of the young midshipman, whom she had seen at Tahiti. In 1849 the British ship Pandora, Captain Wood, stopped at Pitcairn Island, and the captain wrote a detailed account of his visit, from which we quote a few paragraphs:

      "I ran on till very close to the island, which appeared in the moonlight like a high rock with its summit in the clouds, and then hove to. At daybreak I bore up, and at T A.M. was near enough to perceive that there was a heavy swell breaking on the rocks. We fired a gun, which soon drew attention; at first a red ensign, and then a white flag was displayed. The white flag is a signal that landing is practicable; and soon two whale-boats were seen coming off. They were laden with men, a fine, hardy, athletic set of fellows as I ever saw, but little tinged with their mothers' blood; those of the third generation are nearly as white as Europeans. Arthur Quintal, the son of the mutineer, a fine, strong-made man of fifty, with an honest, open countenance, was the senior of the party; but a strapping stout fellow, John Adams, was pilot for the time. This berth they take in rotation, each family according to their seniority. and th ml family has the privilege of entertaining the captain while on shore. The way they effect a landing is this: One, whose experience can be trusted, mounts a rock that commands a view of the sea, and watches for the proper moment, when, at a signal from him, the boat, which has been lying as close to the breakers as possible, makes a rush, and by taking one of the less heavy breakers, goes flying in before it, frequently without a stroke of the oars being necessary, except to steer her, till they get within the rocks, when all danger is over. But, as this turn is very narrow and sharp, it requires skill and experience to get a boat in safely; for a trifling deviation on either side would dash the boat to pieces on the rocks. The beach and heights above it were lined with inhabitants, mostly females, with Mr. Nobbs, pastor and teacher, at their head. All crowded around me, and as I could not shake all their hands at once, I thought it better to kiss them, and they appeared to like this well. I soon found my cap ornamented with a garland of flowers, and amidst laughter and jokes we began to ascend the cliffs. This is no easy task even to a strong man, and to me it would have been quite impracticable, had not Mr. Nobbs called to one of the young ladies to come and help me. She seized my arm, and carried me up without the aid of my feet, without any apparent effort on my part All my officers were similarly treated, and decorated with garlands not only around their hats but their necks. We marched to the top of the cliff, and there met with the remainder of the community. Among others, I was introduced to the only remaining female of the original Tahitans, who is very old, and has lost an eye, but still continues to walk about. We went to the school-room, which is furnished with cross-benches, fitted with inkstands, etc.; and at the upper end a table and seat for the master, and against the end is the pulpit or reading- desk, for the school-room is the church on Sundays.

landing at pitcairn island.
[Click on image to view in larger format in a new window.]

Their form of worship is the Church of England ritual.

      "Evil and crime seem unknown among them; their very simplicity toward us showed such a consciousness of innocence, or rather ignorance of evil, that familiarities such as pass between brothers and sisters were soon established. The dress of the females is varied; but the most useful is a kind of long white jacket or short skirt, with a dark-colored wrapper, which is fastened around the waist, and hangs down to the ankles. They wear no shoes or stockings. Their heads are uncovered, but the hair is turned up behind in an ingenious manner, which needs no comb to keep it in place. Combs, they say, would be in their way when conveying a load of yams, and they pride themselves on the weight they are able to carry from the landing-place to the top of the cliff. A girl of sixteen or seventeen will carry over two hundred-weight. The houses are built of wood, and show progressive improvement in the mechanical part of them which would not disgrace a European tradesman. Most of them are ornamented with prints and looking-glasses; one had an American clock, which, however, would not go. The owner said he did not care, for the sun was the best time-piece. They rise before the sun, eat when they are hungry, and sleep when they are tired, and have no rules for the disposal of their time, except on Sundays, when they attend church twice at the stated times, and on that day Mr. Nobbs winds up his watch, and sets it by aid of a meridian line marked on the floor of his house."

      January 23, 1850, was celebrated as a gal day, it being the sixtieth anniversary of the settlement of the island. Prayers were held, and a salute fired from the gun of the Bounty, which had been fished up five years before from the water where it bail lain for more than half a century. In March of that year an incident happened which proved of some import-

ance to the islanders. A party of five gentlemen, among whom were Baron Thierry and Mr. Carleton, landed from a bark, intending to stay but a few hours. But rough weather came on, and after standing off and on for two days, the vessel sailed away, and the visitors were left behind. Mr. Carleton, who was an accomplished musician, undertook to train a choir, and so apt were his pupils, that in a fortnight they could not only sing the church service, but perform quartettes, glees, and catches. The national anthem, "God Save the Queen," was their special favorite. They have, however, a Pitcairn anthem of their own, composed by Mr. Nobbs, set to the music of "Rousseau's Dream," the first verse of which runs thus:

      In 1852 Admiral Moresby, the British commander on the Pacific station, visited the island on a special invitation, signed by the women. His son, Mr. Fortescue Moresby, who became a great favorite with the people, who designated him as "Fortey," wrote a very interesting account of the visit, which is given by Lady Belcher. The Admiral found that the islanders were very anxious that Mr. Nobbs should receive regular episcopal ordination, in order that he might be qualified to administer the sacrament of the Eucharist. He offered to take him to Valparaiso, and to provide him with a passage thence to England. Mr. Nobbs went, accompanied by his young daughter Jane, of whom we shall have a glimpse hereafter, who was to be left at Valparaiso, to be taught some things which she could not learn on the island. Mr. Nobbs reached England on the 16th of October, 1852, and a week after was ordained deacon by Dr. Blomfield, Bishop of London, who a short time after thus wrote of him: "We have all been very much pleased with Mr. Nobbs's good sense and right feeling and genuine simplicity. I earnestly pray that it may please God to continue to him the blessing which has hitherto been vouchsafed to his disinterested and self-denying labors." On the 24th of November he was ordained as priest, and entitled "Chaplain of Pitcairn Island," with a salary of £50 from the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. After preaching once or twice in London, being presented to the Queen, who gave him portraits of herself and the royal family, he set out on his return on the 17th of December, and on the 14th of May, 1853, reached Pitcairn Island. He brought with him his daughter Jane, of whom Mr. Fortescue Moresby writes: "The Admiral was much pleased with the progress made by Jane Nobbs. She has learned to sew neatly, besides other domestic accomplishments, without losing her pretense to simplicity and modesty."

      Things had not gone well on the island. A severe drought had occasioned almost a famine, and the people for months had been obliged to live on pumpkins, berries, cocoa-nuts, and beans. A few days after his return the influenza broke out, and so rapid was its progress that in a week there were not ten persons capable of attending to their own wants. The population of the island had now increased to 172, of whom 75 were communicants. A succession of unfavorable seasons followed, and it became apparent that the island could not long support its population. Yet so strong was their attachment to each other that they would not think of emigrating, except as a body, and only to some other island, where they could retain their isolation from tits; great world.

[Click to enlarge image.]

      About this time Norfolk Island, near New South Wales— about twelve times as large as Pitcairn— which had long been used as a British penal settlement, was abandoned for that purpose, and the government proposed to give it to the Pitcairners. The people sorrowfully acceded to the necessity of removal. On the 1st of May, 1856, they held their last service in their church. An infant newly bord was bap-

[Click to enlarge image.]

landing-place, sidney bay, norfolk island.
[Click to enlarge image.]

tized by the name of Priscilla Pitcairn Quintal: "So named," says Mr. Nobbs, "as she will in all probability be the last born of this community on the island." Two days after the whole community embarked on a vessel provided by the British government, and after a stormy voyage of five weeks reached their new home.

      A letter written by Mrs. Nobbs soon after their arrival gives a quaint insight into the life which these people had led. "Every thing," she writes, "was so strange! The immense houses, the herds of cattle grazing, and, in the distance, the gigantic Norfolk pines, filled us for the moment with amazement. I was conducted to the Government-house, and seated by a good fire in the drawing-room (I have learned that name since), which was the first fire I had ever seen in a dwelling-house, and an excellent addition to my previous ideas of domestic comfort." Mr. Patteson, the chaplain to the Bishop of Melanesia, gives a vivid description of the Pitcairners as they appeared a month after their arrival at Norfolk Island:

      "I landed, and met Mr. Nobbs and family, and plenty of men and women — thirty families — sixty married people, and one hundred and thirty-four children and young men and women. I had tea at Mr. Nobbs's house, and afterward asked to hear some of the young people sing, which they did beautifully — in parts. About twenty-four came to the house, and sang, for two hours and a half, psalms, hymns, and ended with 'God Save the Queen,' admirably sung. The simple, modest, and manly behavior— the gentle looks of all, men and women— every thing about them, quite confirms all that I had read. The men are darker than the

interior of norfolk island.
[Click to enlarge image.]

Italians, but with no shade of black; it is more of the bright copper-color. The women are scarcely distinguishable from English women. The men wear shirts, serge jerseys, and a sailor costume in general, many without shoes or socks. The women are chiefly dressed in a loose kind of robe; all modest and quiet, but without any appearance of fear. They all have the dress of poor people, with the feelings of gentle born and nurtured. Two of John Adams's daughters — the oldest people on the Island— are really magnificent women, like queens; old Hannah with long black hair flowing to her waist, though sixty-five years old."

      Upon the whole the Pitcairners were not well pleased with their new home. The island was rock-bound, and hardly accessible. This perhaps did not displease them. But the spot where their settlement was placed was bleak and bare of trees, though the interior was well wooded and beautiful. The soil was fertile when irrigated, but the scarcity of running water made many promising crops abortive; and insects and drought caused three crops of maize out of five to fail. The latitude was five degrees farther from the equator than Pitcairn Island, and the people missed the bread-fruit and cocoa-nuts to which they had been accustomed. In a couple of years two families, named Young, returned to their old home. Of these we shall merely mention that they were visited on Pitcairn Island in 1869, when there were in all seventeen, of whom thirteen— ten girls and three boys— were children. The last intelligence from these people is contained in a letter dated July 27, 1869. The account is not altogether favorable:

      "The last merchant-ship touched here last August, so that we are very short of clothing. We ought to be very thankful that we are blessed with health, as we

naomi nobbs. jane nobbs.
[Click to enlarge image.]

have no medicine on the island. Meat le scarce, and so are fish. We have some sheep and goats, but no cattle, and the hogs are diseased. Th;re has been a failure of the yam crops, so that our principal food is sweet-potatoes and plantains. Oranges are plentiful, and bananas and pine-apples, so that we make out pretty well in the eating line. Most of the people would rather he on Norfolk Island than here."

      We return to the emigrants on Norfolk Island. Mr. Nobbs took, on the whole, a cheerful view of the situation. "The land," he wrote, in 1859, "is a goodly land, and needs nothing but a contented mind and a grateful heart to render it productive and pleasant." His contentment was perhaps a little increased by a government grant of £50 a year in addition to the like sum given him by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. Besides the cultivation of the soil, the people took to whaling, with very fair success. In this same letter we get a bit of domestic history. Jane Nobbs had grown up. Her photograph taken at this time shows her to be decidedly pretty. The commander of u Sydney whaler, who had occasionally stopped at the island, had proposed for her in marriage; and her father writes:

     "He will probably return in a few months, when, I suppose, if nothing turns up to his disadvantage, the wedding will take place. Now you will inquire, 'Why does not the silly girl marry one of her own people?' Well, the reasons are not very reconcilable, and may be answered very briefly. In the first place, there are but two men near Jane's age unmarried. One of these is of deficient intellect, and the other is of so taciturn a disposition that he would hardly speak for months if not spoken to; in fact, no girl ever expects Robert Buffett to make her an offer. Jane is now twenty-three years of age, and any of the lads four or five years younger than herself would be rejected with contempt. I suppose if she don't marry an Englishman or an American — and she has had offers from both — she will remain single_ The matter is a source of anxiety both to my good wife and myself. However, I will use all prudence, with a prayerful attention to my duty as a parent, and then will leave tho result to Him who has graciously said, 'I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring.'"

      Two years later we get at the dénouement of Jane Nobbs s love-life. In a letter to Admiral Moresby she says, incidentally: "As to

the affair of my getting married, I leave it entirely to the will of the all-wise Providence. If it should be His will that we should get married, I trust He will bless us; but, if otherwise, then 'His will be done' also; but, I assure you, I love him sincerely." A year later we find, in a letter from her father: "Jane was married a few months since to her cousin, John Quintal." So that the "him" was neither the young sailor, nor any Englishman or American, nor the man deficient of intellect, nor taciturn Robert Buffett, but one of those fellows four or five years her junior, whose offers it was presumed would have been "rejected with contempt."

      The question of getting husbands grew to be rather a serious matter. The British governor at Sidney was asked to "look out for husbands for several young damsels who were growing up without a proper supply of the article," but, says he, "I found it beyond my power to meet the demand. I could not get a single eligible offer. No applicant that I could approve presented himself. Several of a different stamp applied for leave to proceed to the island, but in no case did I accede to the application." But in course of time men who to the girls themselves seemed "eligible" did present themselves, and, not greatly to the liking of Admiral Moresby and Mr. Nobbs, got themselves wives from the fair islanders.

      In 1868 Mr. Nobbs writes: "We are going on in our usual quiet way, but not greatly improving our condition in worldly matters; having at all times a good supply of food, but not of other domestic requirements, by reason that ships rarely visit us, and the island produce is not demanded in the colonies of New Zealand and Australia. We at this moment number exactly three hundred persons, and, somewhat singular, there are one hundred and fifty of either sex. The births last year were eighteen, deaths four, from whooping-cough. There are ninety children being educated, and the parents pay El a year for each child, which is divided among the teachers in this manner: £40 for the principal, who is a son of mine; £26 for the next in rank, who is myself, until the arrival of another son whom I am daily expecting from Sydney; and two pupil-teachers at £12 and E6 respectively. The few surplus pounds are expended in paper, ink, etc. My threescore years and ten are beginning to weigh heavily upon me, my hearing being especially impaired." There were living two children of the, mutineers of the Bounty; one, Arthur Quintal, seventy-six years of age, being "the oldest man on the island, with something of the spirit of the old Covenanters." The next year, 1869, was a sad one for the community, thirty of its members having died. In the twelve years since the landing on Norfolk Island, there had been two hundred and four births and seventy- two deaths, of which almost half were in this one year. Leaving this death-year out of view, there is probably no community on the globe where the births show such a preponderance over the deaths.

      We close our sketch of the Pitcairn Islanders with an extract from a letter of Mr. Nobbs to Lady Belcher, written on the 10th of January, 1870:

      "From our coral-fenced austrine hacienda of twenty miles circumference, glowing beneath a midsummer and nearly vertical sun, accept our New-Year's salutation of grace, mercy, and peace. We have all the day long been engaged in laying the foundations of our new church (All-Saints'), and humbly trust we shall be permitted to finish it by the middle of this year. It is to be of wood, one hundred feet long and forty feet wide. In consequence of increasing deafness (one of the three warnings) I am constrained to relinquish my superintendence of Sunday and day schools. The latter I used to visit every Friday to catechise the children; but I can do so no longer. I am most grateful that for forty-one years (since 1848) I have been enabled to do my duty in that state of life in which I humbly trust it was His good pleasure to place me; and now, providentially, there is other help at hand, that my people will not be neglected, or sustain much loss whenever my number is made. And now, my dear Lady, I close by bidding you God-speed, and that the descendants of the Mutineers of the Bounty may have grateful cause to felicitate themselves on your exposition of their fathers derelictions and provocations.

"Yours, in verity,                             
"George H, Nobbs."     

pitcairn settlement, norfolk island.
[Click to enlarge image.]

"The Pitcairn Islanders."
      Harper's New Monthly Magazine.
Vol. XLII, No. CCLI (April 1871)
pp.653-669.

Pitcairn's Island  Source  Whalesite