164 MR. BRODIE'S VISIT. 
when there are no visiters, the men and 
women in a family sit down together. But 
the attendance of the females on strangers, 
and on their own relatives, has been mis- 
apprehended by some travellers as a mark of 
barbarism. Now, there must be some to 
wait; strangers must be hospitably served; 
and the younger women do these honours 
of their island in the most attentive and 
good-humoured manner. Here, again, the 
delicacy and good sense of the islanders are 
to be admired. It will be allowed that for 
husbands and brothers to be attending upon 
their female relatives and newly-landed 
guests, would be a less desirable and be- 
coming mode than that at present adopted. 
In March, 1850, five passengers of the 
barque Noble, Captain H. Parker, bound 
from New Zealand for California, were left 
by a mischance on Pitcairn ; the vessel from 
which they had landed having been blown 
off from the island during the night. During 
the three weeks of their detention, which 
turned out to be a very agreeable visit, the 
strangers, who had no property about them 
but the clothes which they had on, received 
