THE STORY OF THE BETTISCOMBE SKULL. 201 



men who it was intended should be executed. Let it not be supposed that 

 transportation to the West India Islands for ten years was a punishment of 

 absence alone from their homes a very severe punishment of itself. Those 

 who had purchased or laid out money to procure convicts did so for the sake 

 and with the expectation of profit ; they became the absolute masters 

 of the recent slaves, and could only be repaid by the sale of individuals or 



from the result of their labour " 



" These persons became either in reality slaves or banished persons, accord- 

 ing to their circumstances. Of so great a number my researches have only 

 slightly developed the history of four individuals." 



One of these fortunately happened to be Azariah Pinney, 

 of whom Mr. Roberts gives (p. 243) the following account, 

 the materials for which, he states in a foot-note, were derived 

 from letters supplied to him by a member of the family then 

 living at Somerton House, Somerset : 



" Mr. Azariah Pinney having been sentenced to death for high treason, 

 was pardoned and given to Jerome Nipho, Esq. Rich and poor were alike 

 given to some individual for his benefit, as shown in the preceding list of 

 prisoners to be transported, and were conveyed to Bristol. Mr. A. Pinney's 

 destination was the Island of Nevis. His father clearly refers to this as a 

 matter of choice, and would, had he been consulted, have advised about it. 

 He parted with a wife and child, and proceeded at the age of 24 years to his 



place of banishment. Mr. A. Pinney soon ceased to be a slave 



Mr. Azariah Pinney sailed in the " Rose Pink " Captain Wogan ^and 

 soon experienced the evils of shipwreck and fever. In one of his father's 

 account books 117 3s. is entered for expenses to send him away to Nevis. 

 The banished gentleman had to pay ten days' expenses at Bristol. He 

 visited London and York before sailing. Mr. Azariah Pinney kept a diary, 

 now lost, for his son's information and improvement. He became a nourish- 

 ing man, and his son was eventually Chief Justice of Nevis. Still his letters 

 have complaints of storms, hurricanes, earthquakes, and a ruinous invasion 

 of the French." 



From the kindness of Colonel Reginald Pinney I am able to 

 give an extract from the will of the Rev. John Pinney, of 

 Bettiscombe, dated April 10th, 1702, which refers to the 

 Monmouth Rebel and his son John : 



" I give to my son Azariah fifty pounds sterl., one feather bed one bedstead 

 and furniture for it, if he shall live to return unto England. I also do acquit 



