298 A WEEK AT PITCAIRN. 
from orange and from lime, and from a thou- 
sand fragrant herbs, delicious scents filled the air. 
Quietly and thoughtfully we retired from the 
spot, and gradually found our way off to the 
ship, to prevent giving the poor afflicted Island- 
ers more trouble than we could help. 
Friday. — Christian and Evans going on well. 
Went with Captain Prevost; and, with the 
concurrent wish of the Islanders, spiked the 
Bounty s gun, to prevent a recurrence of the late 
dreadful accident, which seems to have been 
caused by using a rammer made from the rafter 
of a house, these rafters having a nail at each 
end. The gun was so honeycombed, that it 
could not be fired without danger of its bursting. 
Saturday. — Christian and Evans progressing 
as favourably as could be expected. Made every 
preparation for leaving, when it came on to blow, 
and the Virago stood off to sea. 
Finding there was no chance of getting 
away to-day, I accompanied the rear-guard of 
goat-hunters to the mountains, armed with a 
clumsy-looking, but, I believe, true German 
rifle, lent me by George Adams, whose maker, 
boasting a name of some seven syllables, could 
little have anticipated that his handiwork would 
call forth echoes from the picturesque crags of 
an island in the South Pacific. 
Returned to the settlement, dead-beaten, with 
a very vivid recollection of the awfulness of the 
precipices, and of the wariness and activity of 
the goats. • , 
Sunday. — This morning Captain Prevost, 
Ross, the assistant-surgeon, Nihill, a passenger, 
