Recent Ilktory of the Pltcalni Islanders. 261 



zero point, but rather diminishes gradually as the central 

 point is approached, which would hardly be the case if the 

 declination actually fell to zero. 



By 25th March we found ourselves about the latitude of 

 Pitcairn Island, from which we were barely one hundred 

 miles distant. This island, so singular alike by its physical 

 features and its remarkable history as the retreat of the sur- 

 viving mutineers of the Bount/j with their families, has latterly 

 had its interesting population removed to Norfolk Island, 

 where there was room for the simple God-fearing community 

 to increase its numbers without the risk of an excess of popu- 

 lation over the resources of the soil, as there appeared reason 

 to apprehend had they been left on Pitcairn Island. 



The story of the mutiny itself, the escape and subsequent 

 career of Captain and Admiral Bligh, the extraordinary 

 change that came over Adams when, ere ten years had 

 passed, he found himself the sole survivor of the mutineers, 

 all but one of whom died a violent death, and the hardly less 

 marvellous manner in which this primitive community was 

 discovered, after the lapse of nearly thirty years, are themes 

 that need no recapitulation here. Much less known however 

 is theii' subsequent, hardly less singular, destiny, and it will 

 not, therefore, be out of place if, in the interests of the 

 general reader, we vouchsafe a passing notice of their 

 strange career. 



In 1814, twenty-five years after the mutiny, Sir Thomas 

 Staines in H. M. S. Briton visited the island, at which time 



