Revised Jun 12 2021
On Board the Fanny, at Sea,
Lat. 23° 4′ S., and long. 126° 57′ W.
July 2nd, 1849.
Between 8 and 9 o'clock on the morning of Saturday, the 25th June, we sighted Pitcairn's Island. We had a fine fair wind, and great was our anxiety as to whether we should get a chance of landing on co celebrated a spot. Almost every one on board had read of the Mutiny of the Bounty, and were most desirous, if possible, to get a glimpse of the descendants of the mutineers. Fortune befriended us,—the wind fell right, and it was soon known that the Captain had determined to get communication with the shore, and, if there was facilityto re-fill the ship's empty watercasks, he would do so.
At the first view of the Island it appeared rugged enough, and it was not until we opened upon its norther side that we could make out any appearance of houses or cultivation. On getting near, the view was rather pretty; we could see large patches of cocoanut-trees which appeared as if cultivated in squares, and we could also see large patches of green cultivation. As we got within about a mile's distance we could see the inhabitants watching our movements, and about 2 o'clock a cockle-shell of a canoe came off with two men, one of which, when near enough, asked with all possible politeness, "May we come aboard, if you please, Sir?" A ready assent was given, and by two or three stretches of the paddle the canoe was alongside. It was, indeed a fragile affair, and wonderful than men would trust themselves in it. On the men getting on board, they proved to be George Adams, son of mutineer John Adams, and Quintal, grandson of one of the mutineers. The canoe was without difficulty taken on board, for it was as light as cork. They brought with them a few oranges, which they would only give to the women passengers and children. After a short time, in which it was found that water could be easily procured, our two visiters returned to the shore, and immediately three whaleboats came off, well manned, to take us ashore. I was, as you may suppose, in the first boat, and landed at Bounty Bay, so called from its being the place where the Bounty was burnt, after being stripped of everything that was useful. There are only two landing places on the Island; and although this is said to be the best, it is only a few yards wide of beach, everywhere else that I could see being impracticable. There is no anchorage for a vessel, which must stand off and on. On landing we were received by some young men, who cordially welcomed us asore, and one of our boats' crew, after asking several of us our name, and whether we were married or singles, said that his name was Charles Christian [Charles Driver Christian] ( a grandson of Christian, the ringleader of the mutineers), and that he would act as our guide, and shew us the Island. We ascended a very steep path, on a natural platform of which we found a "Mr. Nobbs," the clergymand, shcoolmaster, and doctor of the Island. Mr. Nobbs has resided on the Island upwards of 20 years in the same capacity, and he married one of the island-born women (of course a half-caste, by a Tahitian woman, brought by the mutineers in the Bounty), by whom he has a large family. With him were a number of young women of the Island, from whom we received a hearty welcome and shake of the hand: the personal appearance of these young women was very prepossessing—they were all exceedingly goodlooking, with an expression of good temper and contentment in their faces, that was delightful. We were met by other parties during our ascent, in the same manner; and the delight of the whole of the Island females was extreme at finding there were women passengers coming ashore. It appears they have never had but one white soman on shore, an American. We soon got to their sweet-potatoe cultivations, where were in admirable order; and then to their houses, which possessed interest to us, as ortions of some of them were of timber from the Bounty: glass appeared unknown, the openings for the windows having sliding shutters; and not a house was encumbered by "locks, bolts, or bars."
Not kmowing how long our stay might be, we pushed on to see all the "lions," and visited in due course the school-house and church, and churchyard, from whence we proceeded to Adams' house, built almost entirely by the hands of old Adams, and in which we were shewn his portrait—his Bible, with his name in his own handwriting—and finally, the grave where the good old man found his final resting-place. I mention the fact of seeing his Bible because it is the very Bible in which (according to the published histories) he was reading, when visited by the officers of the first European vesel that touched there. We also saw an iron twelve-pounder, from the Bounty, recovered by diving, a few years since—and which, although it is sadly honeycombed, the Islanders sometimes use to answer a vessel's salute. From thence we went on until we surmounted the highest pea of the Island, estimated as being 1,020 feet above the level of the sea; and it was on this peak that the mutineers, on their first taking possession, built a look-out for vessels—in order, that should one heave in sight, they might conceal themselves. In fact the old houses cannot even at this time be seen from the sea. From this peak you are enabled to see all the cultivations and houses on the Island; and particularly able to see the view caused on the eastern side of the Island by a land slip, about a twelvemonth since. After sating our curiosity as well as time would admit, we returned to the house inhabited by Christian's family and Quintal (one of the two who first came off to the vessel, and who is married to Christian's mother) [William Quintal (1817)] to dinner, the table for which was comfortably spread in European fashion, and partoo heartily of the good cheer—being fowl, breadfruit, plantain, yam,. and native bread (a mixture of banana and sweet potatoe, baked in a native oven, in plantain-leaves), and tea, from native shrubs, sweetened with molases pressed from Island-ground sugarcane. At this meal we saw one trace of barbarism—that the women did not take their meals with the men.
Here we received the pleasant news that we need not go on obard till the next day. After it got dark we heard a fiddle playing, towards which we proceeded, and in one of the houses fell in with such of our women passengers as had got ashore. They had been taken full possession of by the native girls, who appeared quite unable to express their joy at having European women amongst them—singing and dancing was the order of the night; and here occurred barbarism the second, the native women not being allowed to dance. However, we got a violin and flute in full operation—plenty of dancing and singing; two of our New Zealanders sung their native songs, to the great amusement of the Islanders, amnd we kept it up until half-past eleven, when the Island girls sung us some beautiful hymns, in a very pleasing manner, and somewhere about twelve we got to bed. The kind people made us take their own bed, anmd in sheet of native manufactured "tappa," finer than any I had before seen, we were soon asleep. Numerous as were the passengers ashore there was no difficulty in getting sleeping quarters—the difficulty was to refuse invitations.
The following morning—which we will also call Saturday, 30th June, as we took this opportunity of correcting our time—I heard the young Islanders, long before daylight, engaged in an amicable dispute as to who should go off to the vessel to bring the remainder of the passengers ashore; and shortly after the whole party were safely brought. The walk through the groves of cocoa nuts, &c. &c., was delightful, but the day unfortunately being showery we could not wander far, so renewed the fetivities of the previous evening, singing and dancing, until we received the disagreeable orders to proceed on board, which we had to do as speedily as possible, evidently as much to the regret of the Islanders as our own. We could not prevail upon them to accept any payment for our food, &c.; on the ocntrary, they forced little presents of tappa sheets, &c., upon us, and decorated our heads with flowers—for all of which, of course, we sent amply compensation from the vessel, in shape of clothing, books, biscuits, &c., &c. Our little private party of four was presented with, I believe, the last piece of the wreck of the Bounty that could be procured. There is nothing now but a little copper to be procured—excepting, of course, such remains of the timber as are portion of the houses. The water being all on board, we again headed seaward; and exchanging hearty cheers with the Islanders, quitted the Island where we had spent one of the pleasantest twenty-four hours I ever spent in my life.
Pitcairn's Island is in 25° 4′ S. latitude and 130° W. longitude, and is only aobut 4½ miles in circumference. It is seldom visited by ships, on account of there being no anchorage, the water, however, is very bold, and there being no shoals or sunken rocks, vessels can stand close in safely. It was three months since they had been visited previous to us. The best landing place is on the north side, where the village is situated. Vessels might approach close on any other side without being seen by the inhabitants, except by chance.—There is abundant depth of water for vessels of the largest size, to within 100 yards of the rocks. There is scarcely any ebb or flow of tide. The inhabitants express much anxiety for the visits of men-of-war, and are exceedingly proud of being considered English men and women, and seldom miss an opportunity of declaring themselves to be so. They are deeply attached to their native soil, although a few years since they all left the Island, through scarcity of water, and proceeded to Tahiti, from whence, however, they soon returned and have now constructed reservoirs sufficient to amply supply themselves, and for a moderate supply to shipping. They are exceedingly desirous of information, and appear tolerably well informed upon the leading political events of England and France, and received with avidity all the information we could furnish them with regard to the French Revolution. They eagerly also desired to acquire the botanical names of their trees and shrubs. The men have to do all work of tailoring, shoemaking, &c., even, I believe, to the making the garments for the women, wo dress pretty much after the fashion of the New Zeland women who live in the town. The women's work is to prepare and cook the food, which is principally done with heated stones, as the New Zealand natives do. Some of the young men have learnt to make work boxes, &c.;, of the native woods, which are exceedingly neat and well made. Family worship is rigorously attended to night and morning; and during our stay we never heard anything approaching an improper or hasty expression. Their intellect appears of high order, especially that of John Adams, (grandson of the mutineer), who is a poet; two very hastily written specimens of his power I suboin, but he has a long poem on hand, a history of the Island, which is said by those who have seen a portion of it to be very good. They have plenty of books, and were anxious for new works.
The original division of the Island was in nine parts, —now, however, subdivided into twenty-two. Some small disputes, however, occasionally arise as to boundaries, but these, as well as any other disputes, anr soon settled. For this purpose they elect a dignitary termed a Chief Magistrate, who hold his office for a year. The election takes place on New Year's Day, and men and women have all equally a vote. With him, also, are appointed two councillors. Should these three not be able to decide, they form a Jury; and then, should the matter not be satisfactorily settled, it stands over unti the arrival of a British man-of-war, and there is no appeal against the Captain's decision.
The population of the Island is now 149, and the division of the sexes as equal as can be. Mr. Nobbs keeps a journal of all the events&mdashbirths;, marriages, &c.; but it contains little of import. The whole of the inhabitants have been born on the Island, with the exception of Mr. Nobbs and a man named Evans, who has also been there a number of years and has a large family. Amongst the residents is one old Tahitian woman named Rebecca, who is the only survivor of those who arrived in the Bounty. She is said to be 90 years old.
It not being the season, there was not so much fruit as I expected. There was plenty of green cocoanuts, but not a very good supply of oranges, lemons, limes, bananas, or plantains, and a very few pine-apples; but those were good. The sugar-cane was of very fine growth, and abounding in saccharine. The oly vegetables were potatoes, not very good. Sweet potatoes and yams, exceedingly fine. No trace of any other vegetable was visible.
From what could be learnt, the inhabitants appear to be long lived, but subject to influenza, and a few complaints easy to be accounted for by the dense jungle which is allowed in all directions, and through which it is impossible for the sun to penetrate. Very large quantities of vegetable matter are also allowed to lie and decompose; the only spots kept perfectly clear appeared to be the potatoe and sweet potatoe patches. I saw not trees worthy of notice, save a few specimens of the banyan tree, but none of them were of very great size.
The principal food is vegetable; and while, with a few exceptions, the men were of spare habit, it appeared to have a direct contrary effect upon the women, some of them being beyond en bon point. Fish, which used to be abundant, has for some reason appeared to desert the Island for the last year or two. Goats, pigs, and poultry did not appear to be very plentiful.
The arrival of a vessel being observed as a holiday, everything of course had on its holiday appearance, and every person appeared scrupulously clean and neat. Their whole conversation was characterised by simplicity and modesty, and from all that could be seen and heard they appeared to be as moral and pure a community as can possibly be conceived.
It has now become a matter of fact that the Island was inhabited previous to the mutineers' arriving there. The proofs are stone axes which have been discovered. Idols, carved in stone, and about ten feet high, and human skeletons. The axes resemble those used by the New Zealander, but there is no trace to be found as to the race of people or the manner in which they became extinct. Traces of their sweet potatoe cultivation have distinctly been marked out; and there are some inscriptions carved in a cavern situated in the face of a cliff, but I could not procure any copy of it.
An enclosure in the communication before us contains the following extracts. Some of our European readers may smile at the notion of Pitcairn's Island poetry, but we venture to say that—setting aside altogether the peculiar interest of their source—the following verses have literary merit which entitles them to notice.
LINES,
Commencing the Journal of the Island now kept by Mr. Nobbs.
Where are they now, the infatuated crew,
Whose outraged feelings urgedthem on to crime?
Proscribed, they wandered on from land to land,
To Pitcairn's came, and perished in their prime.
What need I tell thier hapless leader's fate,
Slain by the hand of one he deemed his slave,
Save to the rash I wouldthis fact relate,—
Nor mound nor marble marks his dubious grave,*
Their progeny, for these I hold the pen,
To mark their birth in this their fair abode,
When love to marriage prompts the youthful train,
Or when by death their soul returns to God.
* In allusion to Christian, whose grave is unknown.
When far away from friends and home,
And tired in foreign climes to roam,
Let Christ and Heaven be all your care,
Then you may all his blessings share,
O, Lord, grant this my humble prayer,
Nor cease to shield from Satan's snare.
JOHN ADAMS.
ACROSTIC.
By JOHN ADAMS, on the name of a Passenger.
Joy, peace, and gladness here below,
Attend your steps where'er you go.
May God his choicest blessings send,
E'er you depart this world of sin,
Such is the paryer of me your friend.
The following is a curious specimen of the old chronicle of the island.
Extract from old portion of Journal.
27th December, 1789.—Arrived, the Bounty, with 9
of the mutineers, accompanied by 9 Tahitian men
and 13 women.
23rd January, 1790.—Bounty burnt.
1791—Thursday, October Christian born
1793—Mary Christian born.*
1795—Saw first ship
1799—Adams, young, and M'Coy hav-
ing been threatened by Christain, for
self-preservation killed him. Previous
to this, M'Coy and Quintal distilled
spirits, in the ship's kettle, from the
Ti root, and subsequently M'Coy, in
a fit of delirium tremens, fastened a
stone round his neck, and threw him-
self into the sea.
June, 1804—George Adams, Adams's youngest son
born.*
June, 1808—Topaz, of Boston, arrived.
1814—Briton and Tagus arrived.
5th December, 1825—H.M.S, Blossom, Capt. Beechey, arrived.
5th March, 1829—Old John Adams died.
6th March, 1831—All the inhabitants embarked for
Tahiti on board H.M.S. Comet and transport
Lucy Ann. Left Tahiti in the French brig Bor-
deaux, 21st June, and arrived back the 27th.†
* The parties thus marked are still living
† The islanders paid their passage from the proceeds
the sale of the copper taken from the Bounty.