212 VOYAGES OF A NATURALIST 



were numerous, and during the day we walked 

 over the whole of the island, the greater part of 

 which is under cultivation. Water-melons, 

 oranges, and bananas are the principal crops ; 

 the fruit was ripe and in great abundance. A 

 continual supply of fresh water trickles from near 

 the summit of the peak, and this is conducted to 

 the settlement by means of wooden troughs. The 

 water is collected in paraffin barrels, and in these 

 we found the larvce of a mosquito.* Near the 

 summit we passed through a grove of coconut 

 palms, in which several pairs of white terns were 

 nesting, and our guide told me that there are 

 several places in the island where some sea-bird 

 nests in holes in the ground, but that it was not 

 then its breeding season. This bird must be a 

 petrel, but of what species I do not know. 



The windward side of the island is precipitous, 

 and in the cliff there is a cave which Major Wil- 

 braham examined. He found little of interest, 

 however, except a rough carving of the rising sun. 

 The only records of inhabitants previous to the 

 mutineers which we could discover were some 

 stone axe-heads, which we brought away.f There 

 appear to be no burial-places, such as those found 

 on Easter Island, nor any images or monuments 

 of any kind. Possibly, however, Pitcairn was never 

 previously inhabited, and the axe-heads may have 



* Stegomyia fasciata. 



f Mr. Edge-Partington kindly informs me that an " axe blade " sub- 

 mitted to him is Tahitian in type. 



