B. TOUP NICOLAS, ESQ. 291 
will first communicate some further intelligence 
in connexion with their late position at Pitcairn. 
Mention has been made of the kind offices of 
B. Toup Nicolas, Esq., British Consul at Baia- 
tea, towards the community, whom he visited 
in the year 1853. 
Mr. Nicolas having forwarded an extract from 
his diary to the author, it is here presented to 
the reader as one of the most agreeable and 
animated of the sketches of life in Pitcairn. 
MR. B. TOUP NICOLAS'S WEEK AT PITCAIRN. 
At daylight, on the morning of Monday, 
the 24th of January, 1853, Pitcairn's Island 
was in sight from the mast-head of H.M. S. 
Virago, apparently about 45 miles off. As it 
peeped above the horizon, it recalled the top of 
St. Pad's Cathedral. 
We reached the anchorage in Bounty Bay 
at half-past two, under steam ; and, being the 
first steamer which had ever visited the island, 
we made up our minds to astonish the natives, 
with the unusual display of a ship going through 
the water at the rate of some six knots an hour 
in a dead calm. But they knew the dread mon- 
ster at once to be a steamer, and, although much 
delighted, were not equally surprised at her per- 
formances. A boat came off with Mr. Holman, 
the chaplain of the Portland, who had been left 
to fill the place of Mr. Nobbs, during the time 
the latter should be in England, where he had 
gone for the purpose of being ordained. They 
supposed that we had brought Mr. Nobbs back; 
