VOYAGE TO THE 
7^2 
CHAP, themselves with us that we felt the greatest desire to visit their 
IV. houses; and rather than pass another night at sea w'e put off in the 
Dec. boats, though at a considerable distance from the land, and accom- 
panied them to the shore. We followed our guides past a rugged 
point surmounted by tall spiral rocks, known to the islanders as St. 
Paul’s rocks, into a spacious iron-bound bay, where the Bounty found 
her last anchorage. In this bay, which is bounded by lofty cliffs almost 
inaccessible, it was proposed to land. Thickly branched evergreens 
skirt the base of these hills, and in summer afford a w'elcome retreat 
from the rays of an almost vertical sun. In the distance are seen several 
high pointed rocks which the pious islanders have named after the most 
zealous of the Apostles, and outside of them is a square basaltic islet. 
Formidable breakers fringe the coast, and seem to present an 
insurmountable barrier to all access. We here brought our boats to 
an anchor, in consequence of the passage between the sunken rocks 
beinff much too intricate, and we trusted ourselves to the natives, 
who landed us, two at a time, in their whale-boat. The difficulty of 
landing was more than repaid by the friendly reception we met with 
on the beach from Hannah Young, a very interesting young woman, 
the daughter of Adams. In her eagerness to greet her father, she had 
outrun her female companions, for whose delay she thought it neces- 
sary in the first place to apologize, by saying they had all been over 
the hill in company with .lohn Buffet to look at the ship, and were 
not yet returned. It appeared that John Buffet, who was a seafaring 
man, ascertained that the ship was a man of war, and without knowing 
exactly wffiy, became so alarmed for the safety of Adams that he either 
could not or would not answer any of the interrogations w hich were 
put to him, I’his mysterious silence set all the party in tears, as they 
feared he had discovered something adverse to their patriarch. At 
length his obduracy yielded to their entreaties ; but before he explained 
the cause of his conduct, the boats were seen to put off from the ship, 
and Hannah immediately hurried to the beach to kiss the old man’s 
cheek, which she did with a fervency demonstrative of the w^armest 
affection. Her apology for her companions was rendered unnecessary 
by their appearance on the steep and circuitous path down the moun- 
