96 PITCAIKN'S ISLAND. 
lived. Arthur Quintal, the oldest man among 
them, is only fifty-seven ; Elizabeth Young, 
daughter of the late John Mills, though the 
oldest person on the island, is but sixty. The 
ailments to which the islanders are most sub- 
ject are, rheumatism, influenza, bilious affec- 
tions, and diseases of the heart. 
Nature has fortified the coast with power- 
ful barriers, which render it most difficult of 
access, except in Bounty Bay, situate on 
the north-east side ; and even there the 
approach is impossible when the sea is high. 
The ships, which occasionally remain awhile 
in the neighbourhood of the island, and for 
which there is abundance of water, stand off 
and on as well as they may, and as the wind 
allows them. Though soundings in from 25 
to 35 fathoms may be obtained at some dis- 
tance, anchorage is seldom resorted to; the 
state of the ground being such as to cause a 
risk of losing the anchor. Lofty bristling 
rocks, one of which is called St. Paul's Point, 
rise perpendicularly from the sea ; and cliffs, 
with clumps of cocoa-nut-trees at their base, 
are seen, as the boats approach the beach, 
which is shingly, and very narrow at the 
