539 
PITCAIRN’S ISLAND. 
and a boy of eleven ; a daughter of his wife by a former 
hufband, and a fon-in-law. On the oppofite fide is the 
dwelling of Thurfday-O&ober Chriflian ; and in the 
centre in a fmooth verdant lawn, on which the poultry are 
let loofe, fenced in fo as to prevent the intrusion of the 
domeflic quadrupeds. In their houfes, too, they had a 
good deal of decent furniture, confiding of beds, laid 
upon bedfleads, with neat covering; they liadalfo tables, 
and large chefts to contain their valuables and clothing, 
which is made from the bark of a tree, prepared chiefly 
by the elder Otaheitan females. Adams’s houfe confided 
of two rooms, and the windows had fliutters to pull to 
at night. The younger part of the fex are, as before 
dated, employed with their brothers, under the diredlion 
of their common father, Adams, in the culture of the 
ground, which produced cocoa-nuts, bananas, the bread¬ 
fruit tree, yams, fweet potatoes, and turnips. They 
have alfo plenty of hogs and goats; the woods abound 
with a fpecies of wild hog, and the coads of the ifland 
with feveral kinds of good filh. 
Their agricultural implements are made by themfelves 
from the iron fupplied by the Bounty, which, with great 
labour, they beat out into fpades, hatchets, &c. This 
was not all. The old man kept a regular journal, 
in which was entered the nature and quantity of work 
performed by each family, what each had received, and 
what was due on account. There was, it feems, befides 
private property, a fort of general flock, out of which 
articles were iffued on account of the feveral mem¬ 
bers of the community; and, for mutual accommo¬ 
dation, exchanges of one kind of provifion for another 
were very frequent, as fait for frefli provifions, vegetables 
and fruit for poultry, fifli, &c. alfo, when the flores of 
one family were low, or wholly expended, a frefli fupply 
was raifed from another, or out of the general dock, to 
be repaid when circumdances were more favourable: all 
of which were carefully noted down in John Adams’s 
Journal. 
Capt. Henderfon, of the Hercules, landed at Pitcairn 
on the 18th of January, 1819. He found the colony 
very nearly in the date we have jud defcribed from Capt. 
Staines’s letter. He fays, “ I delivered to Adams the 
box of books from the Miflionary Society in London ; and 
a letter from Adams’s brother, who is dill living at Wap- 
ping in London. I read this letter to him, giving him a 
defcription of his family, mentioning the death of one 
fifler, and profperity of another. This affe&ed him much, 
and he often repeated that he never expefled to fee this 
day, or indeed one of his countrymen more.” 
Captain Henderfon’s narrative is inferted in the Cal¬ 
cutta Journal of July 15, 1819 ; and the fame conveyance 
brought the Sydney Gazette of July 17, 1819, which 
contains fome particulars colle£fed from an Otaheitan 
woman, who had been the wife of Ifaac Madden, one of 
the mutineers. She is marked on the left arm A. S. 
1789, which was done by Smith, to whom die attached 
herielf at firfl, and failed with him before the fliip was 
deflroyed. “ Smith,” flie fays, is the only furvivor of 
the Europeans; but flie calls him Adam Smith, which 
makes his affumption of the name of Adams appear more 
natural. She fays, that Neddy Young, one of the muti¬ 
neers, taught them to diflil fpirits from the tea-root. In¬ 
flamed with drinking this new raw fpirit, and with jea- 
loufy about the women, they got into quarrels, which 
ended in the deaths of all the mutineers except Smith, and 
of all the Otaheitan men, and nearly all the women. 
There are no defeendants of the unmixed Otaheitans; 
thofe, with the Europeans by the Otaheitan women, form 
the entire population, (48 perfons.) They exchanged 
their dill, the fruitful caufe of fo much mifehief, with an 
American that touched there ; and they have obtained a 
boat for it, which adds greatly to their comfort. They 
have a place of worfhip, and old Adam Smith officiates 
three times every fabbath. He prays extempore, but 
does not read. It does not appear that any of the people 
have learnt to read. The firfl fettlers difeouraged the 
Otaheitan language, and promoted the fpeaking Englifli. 
She fpeaks of leeing two fliips fome years ago, which kept 
in the offing, and did not come near the ifland. Except 
Mader Folger, as they call him, and the two king’s (hips, 
the Briton and Hercules, they had feen no fliip after 
that till the American that relieved them of their dill, 
and took away this Otaheitan woman to Nugohiva, where 
flie was left for about three months, and then brought to 
Sydney, where flie communicated the foregoing parti¬ 
culars. 
The ifland remained nearly in the fame date fo lately 
as March 12, 1822, when the Ruffel, an American 
whaler, touched there on her way home to New Orleans. 
The captain’s journal dates, that at nine A. M. (March 
8.) a boat came ofl' with ten young men, dreffed in white 
fliirts and trowfers after the European dyle. Theyfpoke 
Englifli very well. Some of them had regular Englifli 
features, while others bore flrong marks of their Ota¬ 
heitan origin. They brought with them fome prefents, 
fuch as bananas, cocoa-nuts, water-melons, &c. After 
the ufual compliments, they w'ere alked down into the 
cabin; bread and butter being placed on the table, they 
were invited to eat, which they declined doing, alleging 
that it was Friday, and a fad day. However, after fome 
perfuafion, and fome confultation among themfelves, they 
raifed their-hands to heaven, and faid grace with the 
.mod unaffefted fimplicity; they ate but little. A fmall 
quantity of grog, very much diluted with water, was 
then offered ; they hefitated, but at length one or two 
were preffed to drink, which they did, wiftiing every one 
good health. After the things were removed, they fang 
a hymn, craved a bleffing, and fat down. They appeared 
intelligent, and fhowed an inquiring difpofition : they 
could read a little, and feemed anxious to learn. Their 
boat, which was very leaky, was in the mean-time hoifled 
on deck, and repaired. It was an old whale-boat, and 
they faid this was the fecond time that the Americans 
had repaired it for them. 
“ In the afternoon one of our boats went afliore. We 
landed near the mountains, through fomefurf, rocks, &c. 
and by the dexterity of the iflanders arrived fafe. The 
boat was hauled up on a fmall beach, where we were met 
by two or three good-looking children, having ernffes 
about tlieir 11 eclis. We afeended a mountain at lead 400 
feet in height, covered with plantains, cocoa-nut trees, 
tea-root, and grafs ; a path wound up along the fide of it, 
and was very difficult travelling, being wet, muddy, and 
extremely narrow. When we had got to the top, we 
defeended into a valley of cocoa-nut trees, planted in 
rows, the work of the iflanders. At length, after tra¬ 
velling a mile or .two, we again defeended into another 
valley like the former, planted with cocoa-nuts and the 
tea-plant; and found ourfelves almofl before the doors 
of the houfes, and in the midfl of the community. Old 
and young came out to meet us. The women were 
clothed in mantles made of paper-mulberry, and flung 
loofely over their flioulders; they were nearly white, and 
comely in their appearance; they hailed us with the 
livelied pleafure in theircountenances, all of them fpeak¬ 
ing Englifh. Some time after, John Adams, whom we 
had met half-way to the landing-place, arrived at the 
huts with our captain, and two or three women. Five of 
their houfes w^ere built in an open area cut out of the 
furrounding woods; they are conflrufted of flrong and 
durable wood of the colour of mahogany, and are two 
dories high ; the parts joined together with a great degree 
of nicety and flrength. The fides were fo contrived that 
they could in a few minutes give the houfe the appear¬ 
ance of a fkeleton of one ; the planks Aiding out; fo that 
the wind might circulate freely through every part when¬ 
ever neceffity or convenience required it. 
“ Soon after our arrival a dinner was ferved up, confid¬ 
ing of two road pigs, fowls, yams, and plantains ; but, as 
they declined partaking with us, on account of its being 
their 
