EMIGRATION. 139 
No real grounds having existed for the 
clearance of Pitcairn in 1831, very serious 
consideration will doubtless be given to the 
subject, before any plans are projected for 
the removal of the inhabitants from this 
island to another, on the presumed score of 
necessity. Should there be scarcity, and 
want of room, in consequence of the increase 
of population, it would surely not be neces- 
sary to remove all the islanders. Mr. Nobbs 
has said, in the hearing of the author, that 
as long as two families should remain at 
Pitcairn, he would remain also. Captain 
Fanshawe, of the Daphne, who visited the 
islanders in 1849, observed, "I could not 
trace in any of them the slightest desire to 
remove elsewhere. On the contrary, they 
expressed the greatest repugnance to do so, 
whilst a sweet potato remained to them; a 
repugnance much enhanced by their emigra- 
tion to Otaheite about eighteen years ago." 
If found needful, a certain amount of 
emigration might surely take place, formed 
on the principle of serving the interests of 
others, as well as their own, by means of 
Christian instruction and example: and the 
