LETTEE FEOM HEYWOOD. 65 
His sister, Nessy, (Hester,) uncertain whether 
he was alive or dead, had written him a letter, 
dated Isle of Man, 3d June, 1792, and had de- 
spatched it by " the hands of Mr. Hay ward, of 
Hackney; the father," she says, "of the young 
gentleman whom you, dear Peter, so often men- 
tioned in your letters while you were on board the 
Bounty r , and who went out as third lieutenant of 
the Pandora" 
After making many pathetic allusions to her 
brother's probable condition, and declaring her 
readiness, " without hesitation, to stake her life 
on his innocence," she adds, " How strange does 
it seem to me that I am now engaged in the de- 
lightful task of writing to you. Alas ! my loved 
brother, two years ago I never expected again to 
enjoy such a felicity; and even yet I am in the 
most painful uncertainty whether you are alive. 
The gracious God grant that we may be at 
length blessed by your return ! But, alas, the 
Pandoras people have been long expected, and 
are not even yet arrived. Should any accident 
have happened, after all the miseries you have 
already suffered, the poor gleam of hope with 
which we have been lately indulged, will render 
our situation ten thousand times more insupport- 
able than if time had inured us to your loss." 
A letter from Peter, dated Batavia, Nov. 20, 
1791, at last announced that he was alive, and 
on his return. His account of the painful scene 
on board the Bounty afforded them, as far as he 
was concerned, comparative happiness. " Hap- 
pening to awake," said he, "just after daylight, 
and looking out of my hammock, I saw a man 
