LETTER OF MR. JOSHUA HILL. 163 
at Pitcairn's Island ; when in fact he had 
received no such authority. Mr. Nobbs appears 
to have been of too plain and straightforward 
a character to suit this new-comer, whose pre- 
sence amongst the people caused much trouble, 
and who divided their little society into two 
factions; one siding. with him, the other with 
the constitution as it was. At length, partly by 
splendid promises, and partly by instilling into 
the simple minds around him the fear of giving 
offence to the Government at home, whom he 
affected to represent, he enlisted some of the 
natives against the three Europeans, and suc- 
ceeded in excluding them and their families, for 
a time, from the island. 
Certain misrepresentations concerning Mr. 
ISTobbs, which are alluded to by Admiral 
Moresby, in his letter contained in the Preface, 
took their rise at about this time. 
It is fortunate for any one who may have 
been misrepresented by Mr. Hill, that he wrote 
in June 1834 a long letter, full of himself and 
his own praises, which has been published,* 
and which sufficiently shows into what sort of 
hands the islanders of Pitcairn had fallen during 
the time of Hill's influence. The author cannot 
refrain from quoting a passage, as a specimen of 
this epistle : 
"I have visited the falls of Niagara and Mont- 
morency, the natural bridge in Virginia, the great 
Reciprocating Fountain in East Tennessee, the 
great Temple of Elephanta at Bombay. I have 
dined with a prince, as well as with a princess ; 
* Brodie, p. 211, ed. 1851. 
