292 A WEEK AT P1TCAIRN. 
and his wife and daughter were also in the 
boat to welcome him. They, of course, were 
disappointed ; but, glad as the Islanders would 
undoubtedly have been to receive Mr. Nobbs, 
they would, 1 believe, have been little less sorry 
to lose Mr. Holman. We landed (the Virago 
saluting me with seven guns) without much 
trouble, in Captain Prevost's whale-boat, steered 
by one of the natives, and experienced a hearty 
and truly English welcome ; all of them shaking 
us warmly by the hand, and telling us how truly 
glad they were to see us ; professions which 
their after-kindness fully confirmed. 
From the landing-place we scaled a kind of 
zigzag goat path for about two hundred yards, 
which brought us to the " market-place." But 
instead of buildings, benches, butchers' shops, 
and all that constitutes an English market- 
place, one must fancy a floor of shrubs, and a 
roof of cocoa-nut trees ; a small space of a few 
yards being cleared away: and on this the 
different families bring their stock for sale, 
when any merchant-vessels call at the island 
for provisions. Here were assembled all those 
who were either too old or too young to reach 
the landing-place, and who renewed the expres- 
sions of good-will made to us by their relations 
below. We then walked towards their village, 
or rather the succession of detached houses, 
each on its own little terrace, embowered in 
orange and cocoa-nut trees ; and, as it was 
nearly tea-time, we were billeted, generally two 
in a house. My friend Hassan, the Turkish 
lieutenant, and myself, were quartered on John 
