EMIGRATION. 135 
shawe, who visited the islanders in 1849, ob- 
served : "I could not trace in any of them the 
slightest desire to remove elsewhere. On the 
contrary, they expressed the greatest repugnance 
to do so, whilst a sweet potato remained to them ; 
a repugnance much enhanced by their emigra- 
tion to Otaheite about eighteen years ago." 
At that time, however, they had not been en- 
couraged by the hope, that in the event of their 
crops failing, or their population increasing, they 
might probably be transferred to some more 
roomy island, blest with a genial climate and a 
fertile soil. 
It will be seen, in the progress of this work, 
that a scarcity of provisions, followed by general 
illness in the island, in the year 1853, has 
caused a strong feeling of the necessity for a 
change of residence ; though George Adams, 
who is now fifty years old, declares that he 
should prefer remaining, that he may, when his 
time comes, be buried in the grave of his father. 
If found needful, a certain amount of emigration 
might take place, formed on the principle of 
serving the interests of others, as well as their 
own, by means of Christian instruction and ex- 
ample : and the good leaven, thus infused into 
other communities, would, with God's blessing, 
produce the happiest effects upon them. 
In the little work entitled " The Mutiny of 
the Bounty," it is remarked that the Pitcairners 
have already proceeded from the simple canoe 
to row-boats ; and that the progress from this 
to small- decked vessels is simple and natural. 
They may thus, at some future period, be the 
