Revised Jun 21 2021
But if they are active and cheerful on common days, how great is their pleasure on descrying, from the "Look-out Ridge" of their sea-girt rock, a sail on the edge of the horizon! and what a stir does the arrival of a ship cause among them! How different are the feelings of the present islanders from those which possessed the inhabitants fifty or sixty years since! Then they sought a place of concealment, when they perceived a vessel heave in view; now they rejoice at the sight.
A short account of the reception of a ship on their shores will interest the reader.
It is customary for each family, in turn, to have the privilege of receiving as their guest the captain of any vessel, whether a man-of-war, or a whaler, which may happen to arrive. On her appearance sufficiently near, the master of the house, whose turn it is to be the host, goes off in a canoe, and, after satisfactory answers to questions as to the health of those on board, he ascends the ship's side; the canoe, which is but a light affair, being quickly hauled up after him. Most important are these inquiries; for if the small-pox, or any other infectious disorder, should find its way into the island, dreadful indeed would be the result. But when it is "all right," the ship's boat being lowered, the captain, and five or six men, conducted by the islander, who steers in the difficult parts, proceed to Bounty Bay. Some persons are always ready on the rocks to give a signal for the safe entrance of the boat, without which precaution serious accidents would frequently occur.