JOHN ADAMS'S DREAMS. 107 
families, who had been brought up in ignorance 
of their God and Saviour, all the women being 
Otaheitan idolaters. One Bible, and one only, 
which had been occasionally read by Christian 
and Young, remained this inestimable treasure 
having been rescued from the Bounty. Here 
was a merciful provision for guiding Adams, 
and those around him, in the right way, and 
making them wise unto salvation. It may even 
be hoped that the blessing had not been wholly 
lost upon Christian and Young. 
Besides the Holy Scriptures, Adams had the 
comfort and advantage of possessing a Common 
Prayer-book, one copy of which had also been 
recovered from the ship ; and of this he made 
constant use. 
In the year 1800, having then reached his 
thirty- sixth year, he found himself the only 
man on the island. The younger part, con- 
sisting of twenty children, looked up to him 
with reverence and affection. About ten years 
after this, he had two remarkable dreams, which 
presented to him in vivid colours his past 
transgressions, and the awful nature of the 
punishment awaiting them. In one of these 
dreams, he imagined that he saw an awful 
being approaching him, and about to thrust him 
through with a dart. The other vision repre- 
sented to him the horrors of a future place of tor- 
ment. These were such dreams as other persons 
may have had in their turns ; but they produced 
in him a lasting and wholesome impression, and 
effectually moved his conscience. May we not 
1 elieve this to have been the influence of the 
believe th 
