108 PITCAIRN'S ISLAND. 
January, 1853, having on board singing-birds, 
rose-trees, myrtles, &c. for the islanders. 
There are lizards, but no venomous reptiles 
on the island. The people are annoyed by 
rats, which do much damage to the sugar-canes. 
Hence the strictness of the law for preserving 
cats, which remains to be noticed in a future 
page. 
About half the island, consisting of six hun- 
dred acres, is cultivated. The rest is too rocky 
for cultivation. There being but little beach, 
the quantity of sea-weed washed up is small : 
such as there is, however, is employed for the 
use of the ground. 
Though the climate cannot be called un- 
healthy, the people are not generally long-lived. 
Arthur Quintal, sen., the. oldest man now among 
them (1856) , is about sixty years old. Elizabeth 
Young, daughter of the late John Mills, the oldest 
person on the island, is sixty-four, she having 
been born in 1792. The ailments to which the 
islanders are most subject are, rheumatism, in- 
fluenza, bilious affections, and diseases of the 
heart. 
Nature has fortified the coast with powerful 
barriers, which render the island most difficult 
of access, except in Bounty Bay, situate on the 
north-east side ; and even there the approach is 
impossible when the sea is high. The ships, 
which occasionally remain awhile in the neigh- 
bourhood of the island, and for which there is 
abundance of water, stand off and on as well 
as they may, and as the wind allows them. 
Though soundings in from 25 to 35 fathoms 
