THE PITCA1RN ISLANDERS. 7 



mestic fowls, and a quantity of wild pigs and fowls. 

 Even 16,000 Ibs. of hay and 5000 of straw were left 

 them ; and, lest their first crop should be late or fall 

 short, a list of additional supplies was sent to the Go- 

 vernor-General.* According to all accounts the Pit- 

 cairners do not display themselves to advantage in their 

 new home, and most visitors are anything but pleased 

 with them. As might have been expected, the nume- 

 rous presents given and sent to them have had a bad 

 effect, making them accomplished beggars, who state 

 their case in such a w T ay as will most readily induce the 

 hearer to give them some present or influence others 

 to do so. They are besides said to be an indolent set, 

 who, rather than fetch fuel from the woods, will burn 

 the floors, doors, and window-frames of the fine buildings 

 erected by the convicts, and generously placed by Go- 

 vernment at their disposal. If report be true, Sir Wil- 

 liam Denison, on his visit to the island, gave them a 

 severe and well-deserved lecture on this head. Several 

 of them are said to have already returned to Pitcairn 

 Island, where they seem to have felt more comfortable, 

 though cramped for space, and a few are said to have 

 embarked in whaling operations. Let us hope that the 

 whole community, about which so much truth and fic- 

 tion has been written, may gradually be led to habits of 

 industry, and learn to rely more upon its own resources 

 than the charitable contributions of others. 



On the 10th of May we got the trade wind, and on 

 Saturday the 12th, about eight o'clock in the morning, 

 caught the first glimpse of Fiji. We had left Sydney 



* See Captain Denham in ' Hydrographic Notice,' n. 5. 



