PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION D. 263 
view of finding an island in which he would probably be secure 
from arrest, and which would furnish sustenance to his party. 
Accordingly, in October, 1789, he landed at Pitcairn Island. 
The descendants of himself and his party peopled the island, 
which finally became too small for them, the greater number of 
whom removed to Norfolk Island in 1856. A few returned (in 
1858 and 1863) to Pitcairn, they and their descendants forming 
nearly the whole of the present inhabitants. In 1808 the 
“ Bounty’s” people were discovered on Pitcairn by Capt. Folger, 
of the ship “ Topaz,” of Boston, U.S.A., and from that date until 
recent years the liveliest interest was taken by the British people 
in Pitcairn, quite a library of works, chiefly of a religious cha- 
racter, having been written to supply information in regard to 
the island and its people. 
In 1898 a Judicial Commissioner was sent from Fiji to Pitcairn 
to investigate a murder which had taken place, and Capt. A. W. 
Torlesse, of H.M.S. “ Royalist,” then in Sydney, was despatched 
to the island. Capt. Torlesse very willingly entered into my 
plan of obtaining specimens of the Pitcairn flora, but, as his stay 
was so short, he handed over the collecting appliances to Miss 
Rosalind A. Young, a native of the island, who was known to take 
an interest in plants. Several months afterwards I received, 
via Tahiti and Fiji, the collection formed by Miss Young, but 
many of the specimens were damaged owing to their having been 
delayed at Fiji for some months. Most. of the specimens were, 
however, determinable, and, inasmuch as no lists, other than 
very brief ones, of Pitcairn Island plants have ever been pub- 
lished, I offer this small contribution to the botany of Polynesia. 
If it were possible [ would make my present paper more com- 
plete, but communication with Pitcairn is both infrequent and 
uncertain, and one may have to wait for years for additional 
material. 
Owing to the proximity of Pitcairn to Tahiti, many useful 
plants have been taken from the latter to the former island, while 
Tahitian names preponderate in regard to such plants as pos- 
sess any name on Pitcairn. 
BorTaNIcAL BIBLIOGRAPHY. 
The following works contain all the notes on the botany of 
Pitcairn with which I am acquainted :— 
1. Beechey, F. W. Narrative of a Pasihoe to the Pacific and 
Beering’s Strait, &c., 2 vols.: Colburn and Bentley, 1831. 
[Chapters III. and IV. deal with Pitcairn Island, which Cap- 
tain Beechey was specially instructed by the Admiralty to visit. 
This work contains two excellent engravings of views of the 
island. | 
