104 ELIZABETH ISLAND. 
resolved to brave the perils of the sea, rather 
than remain. They had accordingly prepared 
to set off secretly in a boat, which, fortunately 
for them, upset ; as the men who had built it 
probably intended it should do, as soon as it 
was launched ; though they had instructed the 
females how to steer, and had appointed one of 
them " the Captain." Thus ended their vision- 
ary voyage : and the women, foiled in their 
attempt to get away, again settled down in their 
sad and unwelcome home. Whither they had 
proposed to go, it is impossible to say. The 
nearest island to Pitcairn, nearly ninety miles to 
its north, is Oeno, of coral formation, a barren 
place, most difficult of access. The approach is 
so bad, owing to the reefs of coral encompassing 
the lagoon which surrounds the island, that 
when Captain Beechy, in December 1825, at- 
tempted to land, the boat was broken to pieces. 
Lieut. Edward Belcher narrowly escaped with his 
life, and a young lad of the party was drowned. 
There is also, about 120 miles from Pitcairn, 
Elizabeth, or Henderson's Island, so called after 
Captain Henderson, of the Hercules, of Calcutta. 
It is nearly eighty feet above the level of the 
sea, five miles in length, one mile in breadth, of 
volcanic formation, and covered with dead coral. 
The soil is poor and sandy. There are many 
trees and shrubs on the island, and it has been 
occasionally visited by the Pitcairn people, 
chiefly for the sake of the timber found there. 
On the occasion of their visit in 1851, they 
found eight human skeletons lying in caves; 
probably the remains of some shipwrecked 
