Revised Jun 21 2021
The children are early instructed in swimming; and many of their sports are in the water. They also learn to thread the difficult passes of the rocks like so many young goats. The personal strength and activity of the men, which are described by Admiral Beechey, as he observed them in 1825, do not seem to be diminished at the present day. The Lieutenant Belcher, mentioned in the subjoined extract, is now Captain Sir E. Belcher, C.B.
"Two of the strongest men on the island, George Young and Edward Quintal, have each carried at one time, without inconvenience, a kedge anchor, two sledge hammers, and an armourer's anvil, amounting to upwards of six hundredweight. Quintal, at another time, carried a boat, twenty-eight feet in length. Their activity on land has been already mentioned. I shall merely give another instance, which was supplied by Lieut. Belcher, who was admitted to be the most active among the officers on board, and who did not consider himself behindhand in such exploits. He offered to accompany one of the natives down a difficult descent, in spite of the warning given by his friend, that he was unequal to the task. They, however, commenced the perilous descent; but Mr. Belcher was obliged to confess his inability to proceed, whilst his companion, perfectly assured of his own footing, offered him his hand, and said he would conduct him to the bottom, if he would depend on him for safety. In the water they are almost as much at home as on land, and can remain nearly a whole day in the sea. They frequently swam round their little island. When the sea beat heavily on the island, they have plunged into the breakers, and swum to sea beyond them. This they sometimes did, pushing a barrel of water before them, when it could be got off in no other way; and in this manner we procured several tuns of water, without a single cask being stove."
The Rev. Wm. Armstrong, formerly Chaplain at Valparaiso, and since resident in New Brunswick, in a letter to the author from Valparaiso, dated October, 1849, stated that an English man-of-war, the Pandora, had lately arrived direct from Pitcairn, and that the commander, Lieut. Wood, and the officers, had given the most pleasing account of the happy state in which the little community were living. They were described as a remarkably strong and healthy people. For instance, a young woman, eighteen years of age, had been accustomed to carry on her shoulders a hundred pounds weight of yams over hills and precipitous places, and for a considerable distance, where one unaccustomed to such exercise would scarcely be able to scramble. A man, sixty years old, with ease carried the surgeon of the Pandora up a steep ascent from the landing-place, where he had himself in vain attempted to mount, the ground being very slippery from recent rains; and the officer being a large man, six feet high, rendered it the more surprising. Indeed, Lieut. Wood said he was himself borne aloft in the arms of a damsel, and carried up the hill with the utmost facility.
From the date of the first intelligence respecting the inhabitants of Pitcairn, there has been no variation in the character given of them. As they were, in those two great essentials of human happiness, purity and peace, when Sir Thomas Staines visited the island in 1814, so they are now in 1856,—the same contented, kind, and God-fearing race. Nor need we feel surprise at this, however delighted we may be with the picture. They are sensible of the treasure which they possess in the Bible, and they take it for their guide in the performance of their duty towards God and their neighbour. And they have learned to estimate the value and excellency of the Book of Common Prayer, which, as a faithful exponent of the revealed word of God, has tended to keep them in the unity of faith, in the bond of peace, and in righteousness of life.