Pitcairn’s island. 323 
f6r nearly twenty years; when Captain Mayhew 
Folger, in the American ship Topaz, of Boston, 
touched at their island; and, after maintain¬ 
ing a friendly intercourse with them for two days, 
prosecuted his voyage. No further information 
respecting them transpired until 1814, when 
Captain Sir T. Staines, in his majesty’s ship 
Briton, on his passage from the Marquesas to 
Valparizo, unexpectedly came in sight of the 
island. Canoes were soon perceived coming off 
from the shore ; and it is not easy to conceive 
the astonishment of the commander and his officers, 
when those on board hailed them in the English 
language. The surprise of the young men in the 
canoe, who were the sons of the mutineers, when 
they came on board an English man-of-war, was 
scarcely less than that of their visitors. The 
frankness with which they replied to the interroga¬ 
tories of the captain, evinced the unsophisticated 
manner in which they had been brought up ; and 
their account of their belief in the most impor¬ 
tant doctrines, and practice of the great duties 
of religion, reflected the highest honour on their 
venerable instructor. When they sat down to 
breakfast, without any hypocritical or formal show 
of devotion, but with a simplicity and earnestness 
that alone astonished and reproved those around 
them, they knelt down, and implored “ permission 
to partake in peace of what was set before them 
and at the close of their repast, “ resuming the same 
attitude, offered a fervent prayer of thanksgiving 
for the indulgence they had received.” The cap¬ 
tains of the Briton and Tagus went on shore, and 
were met on the brow of the hill by Adams’s 
daughter, who, after the first emotions of surprise 
had subsided, led them to the “ beautiful little 
y 2 
