144 GOOD CONDUCT OF VISITORS. 
to scramble. A man, sixty years old, with ease 
carried the surgeon of the Pandora up a steep 
ascent from the landing-place, which he had 
himself in vain attempted to mount, the ground 
being very slippery from recent rains; and 
the officer being a large man, six feet high, 
rendered it the more surprising. Indeed, Lieut. 
Wood said he was himself borne aloft in the 
arms of a damsel, and carried up the hill with 
the utmost facility. 
From the date of the first intelligence re- 
specting the inhabitants of Pitcairn, there has" 
been no variation in the character given of them. 
As they were, in purity and peace, those two 
great essentials of human happiness, when Sir 
Thomas Staines visited the island, in 1814, so 
they are now in 1853, the same contented, 
kind, and God-fearing race. Nor need we feel 
surprise at this, however delighted we may be 
with the picture. They are sensible of the 
treasure which they possess in the Bible, and 
take it for their guide in the performance of their 
duty towards God, and their neighbour. And 
they have learned to estimate the value and 
excellency of the Book of Common Prayer, 
which, as a faithful exponent of the revealed 
word of God, has tended to keep them " in the 
unity of faith, in the bond of peace, and in 
righteousness of life." 
The difficulty of landing on the island, and 
the want of harbour and anchorage, though at 
first sight a disadvantage, may have proved a 
blessing, in preserving these simple-minded 
people from the baneful effects too likely to 
