270 Vofjage of the Novara. 



your disposal Immediately on my arrival in Valparaiso." We 

 thanked Captain Stewart for his kindness, and we parted with 

 a vigorous ^' shake hands " of genuine English cordiality. 



The reader will see in the subsequent chapter how honour- 

 ably the worthy skipper kept his word. Two months later, 

 after we had sailed over 5220 nautical miles, we were handed 

 the promised information ; but to preserve uniformity we 

 shall present the reader at once with this comprehensive 

 sketch of the present state of Pitcairn and its amiable inha- 

 bitants, as furnishing the latest particulars of the islanders, 

 which are now for the first time published in Europe. 



^' Captain Stewart had been in communication with the 

 inhabitants of Pitcairn in November, 1858. Landing at Nor- 

 folk Island, in the course of a voyage in the South Sea, the 

 community chartered his schooner to convey certain of their 

 number back to Pitcairn Island. They declared they had 

 only quitted Pitcairn in consequence of the glowing descrip- 

 tion given them of Norfolk Island. Instead of the promised 

 superabundance, they could only by dint of severe labour 

 provide themselves with the ordinary necessaries of life. 

 Their staple of food was sweet potatoes and a small quantity 

 of meat, in fact, a single bullock, which by permission of 

 Government they slaughtered once a week, and the flesh of 

 which served the entire community. 



" Besides all this, the rudeness of the climate did not seem 

 to suit them, and diseases seemed to become more and more 

 frequent among them. In fact, it turned out that the natural 



