Recent Ilistoru of the Pilcairn Islanders. 16^ 



liitlans received the new arrivals in tlie most cordial manner, 

 the pure minds of the latter were so disgusted and revolted 

 with what they saw at Eapeete, that the very day after they 

 disembarked, they loudly declared that under no circum- 

 stances would they remain there, and therefore claimed to be 

 taken back to Pitcairn's Island. When it was found that all 

 representations failed to induce them to make any stay at 

 Tahiti, a few Protestant missionaries got up, in conjunction 

 with some English residents, a fund of some £400, with 

 which they chartered a schooner, for the purpose of restoring 

 the Pitcairn Islanders to their rocky paradise in the solitudes 

 of the Pacific, for which they felt such an irresistible home- 

 sickness. In August of the same year the return voyage 

 took place. During their short stay at Tahiti, fourteen had 

 died of sheer grief and anguish of mind, like plants that had 

 been transplanted into a foreign soil. Although only six 

 months absent in all from Pitcairn Island, there was not one 

 single family but had to regret the loss of some beloved 

 member ! 



Despite their bitter experience hitherto, the old terror of 

 over-population again arose in the bosoms of the Pitcairn- 

 ers, after a series of prosperous and peaceful years, and a 

 wish began to be frequently expressed that at least a por- 

 tion of the inhabitants could be drafted off to some other 

 island. In order to comprehend and do justice to this feel- 

 ing, one must place oneself in the position of a resident on an 

 extremely small solitary island in the ocean, which is often 



