384 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1924 



mutineers' descendants tc» the outside world. John Adams lived 

 until 1829, and was succeeded by George Nobbs as chief magistrate. 

 Through fear of drought, the whole colony were returned to Tahiti 

 in 1830 on a British man-of-war, but they disliked the change, pined 

 for their beloved Pitcairn, and were sent back in 1831. 



The Pitcairners thereafter had an up-and-down career for another 

 25 years, when, in 1856, GO married and 134 youngsters were again 

 removed, this time to Norfolk Island. As time passed a number 

 (40) returned to Pitcairn, so that in 1895 the population was about 

 170 souls. The Pitcairn people continue to speak the patois, mostly 

 composed of the Tahitian of the original Polynesian women, that 

 arose out of the mixed races that migrated in the days of the Bounty^ 

 and, although they show some of the signs of inbreeding consequent 

 on their century of complete isolation, are, as a rule, intelligent and, 

 for Polynesian half-breeds, an active and virile race. 



The romantic story of the Bounty excited much interest all over 

 the world, and attracted the attention of Lord Byron, then ap- 

 proaching the end of his tragic career. He further immortalized the 

 mutineers in a poem — the last long one from his pen — entitled " The 

 Island." 



It is due to the memory of William Bligh, who rose to distinction 

 and became an admiral in the British Navy, that the mutiny on his 

 ship was no fault of his rule, but was the outcome of relations estab- 

 lished between members of the crew and the women of the enchanted 

 isle of Otaheite, an attraction that seems to have retained much of 

 its force since the day that Cook sailed into the lagoon-harbor of 

 Papeete. 



Several friends have asked me whether the descriptions of tropical 

 scenery and of tropical life — human, floral, and feral — that one reads 

 as part of the voluminous literature of Polynesia, are not largely 

 figments of the literary imagination. To this I answer: "Gen- 

 erally speaking, no; but not infrequently, yes." After all, the ver- 

 dict depends upon the individual. Some there are who see only the 

 beauty and the romance that is Oceania, while others, following an 

 identical itinerary, see little that is satisfactory and learn only that 

 Polynesian man in vile. Some are convinced that on these tropical 

 islands "every prospect pleases" and that only the human element is 

 objectionable; contrariwise, there are those who find all jungles and 

 all atolls alike and that only the aboriginal or the " introduced " 

 beach-comber is of interest. In all probability the truth lies midway. 

 In any event I feel certain that the unprejudiced observer will always 

 discover a continued charm in a country that is wholly new, remark- 

 ably varied as one travels from one island group to another, and full 

 of natural history wonders. Possibly the following descriptions, 



