The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1855-09-04 00:00:00

THE _PITCAIRN ISLANDERS.

interestingsinformation regarding the
'Pitcairn Islanders,. descendants- of the mutineers of the
Bounty, is derived, from a letter or date 31st March last,
received by Uses family of a young; gentleman belonging to
Greenock, whols an officer on boardJI.M.S. Amphitrite,. one
ottbe British.squaehon in the Pacifier—
" At, daylight. observed Pitcairn!s• Island about 30,miles off;
et ten p.m. wereclase to it, andstood off for the night under
easy sail. l'Ztlis—At daylight we have-to off Bounty Bay,and
fired' a gun,. which was repeated; at 6.30 a.m., and:soon after-
wards we saw the whale-boat:-full of islanders .coming out.
They got alongside about 7530,. (there were 13--in the boat.)
They were, on tin whole, fine-looking men. We nad.no. news
to give them,. for they had_ as. late European. news,as our-
selves. The cutter left thee ship at 8.30 a.maintending to
wait outside the surf for the whale-boat, in which I took a
passage.as I was late for the, first boat. We left about nine
o'clock:and. want directly on shore, as we had a boat-load of
gearcrossed ;the
isuslarnfdecirsuitesoesethuaty
cro eanwde.reonthal•afinrsditn.gto, land.fonnd
3,Wirre.
Nobbs,, with the greater portion of the males.and children, on
the beach. We received a hearty welcome, an thd, after e
party, from the cutter hatjoined us, proceeded up the hill,
whkhis about 300 feet perpendicular; it is very bad at any
time., but late in day, after some rain heaLfallensit was dread-
frilly, slippery, and we all had one or .two tumbles coming
dassa.. We reached the market-place, (after a climb over 500
yards of ground,) as it is.ealled, beingaspace sit the top of the,
hillnusler some cocoanut trees, in about ten minutes, and there:
were surprised by seeing nearly all the..ladies, about fifty or so,
awaiting our arrivals. I was greatly . pleased, and so was
everybody—for yeit might go a long,way before you could see
such a collection ,of pretty, goodshumostred, cheerful faces.
They were most of them a little shy at first, but it wore off.
After chatting ,short time, we went en to the settlement,
and walked about, seeing everything and everybody. We all
dined about noon, each family asking two or three ; andsto
that house where you dined you were expected to go, if you
wanted water or a melon,—in fact make it your home pro tern.
We soon got, a little singing up, and the ladies favoured us
with " God save the Queen,". the "Pitcairn Song," and, two
or three others: They sang very nicely, and so pleased the
captain that he said he would wait till next day, instead of
sailing at: dark, as he intended at first. The girls made very
pretty wreaths : they are made of a flower very much. like
a red daisy,. and they wear them round their heads. The
_whale boat came off a seven p.m., and was hoistedup to. the
port main rigging ferthe night, the islanders, about a dozen,
sleeping in the afterscabin. They are dressed nearly all alike,
except the Nobbs',,who were shoes, and are regarded as supe-
rior. There are only eight of the first generation, two men
and six women; The oldest man is sixty, and. the oldest
woman between. seventy and eighty. None of these will leave
the island, at least they say so, and only wish removal to
Norfolk Island. for their children's benefit : for, they say,
in a few years the island • will be too small for them. The
number of inhabitants at present is. 190, 95 *males and 95
females. They are all in go.d health, except Reuben, Mr.
Nobbs'aeldest son,who is-in consamption,and cannot live many
weeks longer. They were greatly pleased with our presents, and
they sent off to the ship's company lots of pumpkins, water
melons,. plantains, &c. Every house is beautifully clean, and
for the first time after leaving England I have seen scrapers,
which are made out of old cutlasses. The houses have the.
sleeping places made like bunks round one side, and there is
generally, besides a chest or two of drawers, a table, a stool,
and a cupboard. Some of them have a slight partition, where
'
the father and mother sleep ; the rest are berthed indis-
criminately: All the bunks have curtains to let down.. They
are all excellent swimmers, being in the water as soon as they
can walk. The women are considered the best. I expect we
are the last man-of-war who will see them before their divi-
sion ; for I suppose they will remove either this year or the
beginning of next. We took a great many letters for them,
and brought several away, mostly for officers who have been
there. They were all very sorry at our leaving, and some of
the women cried ; some of the men, also, I think. There was
only a'little dispute about some land, which had to be referred
to the captain, and that was very soon satisfactorily settled.
They rise. at daylight and begin the day's. work ; but, strange
to say, they eat nothing till noon, then generally vegetable
food, with meat once or twice a week only ; they have a sup-
per about seven'o'clock, and go to bed about eight p.m. The
houses are raised about three feet off the ground, and thatched
with palm leaves, with good eaves, so that all the rain runs
off clear. The thatching lasts a long time. About eleven
o'clock a.m., the islanders on board left, loaded with :presents
for themselves and the ladies. Just after they pushed off,
they gave three cheers, which were heartily returned ; they
then pulled for the shore, and we made all plain sail, with a
refr::sl:infr, breezy,

ECCLESIASTICAL INTELLIGENCE.

PREFERMENTS AND APPOINTMENTS

Rev. W. C. Adamson, to the Chapeiry of Cumberworth, near
Huddersfield.
Rev. E. Barnwell, 8.A., to the Incumbency of beeping St.
Nicholas, near Spalding, Lincolnshire.
Rev. W. Beal, LL.D., Vicar of Brooke, Norfolk, to be an In-
spector of Schools for the diocese of Norwich.
Rev. W. F. Black, M.A., from Burley-in. Wharfedale, to the
Rectory. of Raheny, diocese of Dublin.
Rev. C. J. Black, 8.A., Curate of St. Anne's, Poplar, to the
Incumbency of Burley-in- Wharfdale.
Rev. C. E. Bowden; 8.A., to the Curacy of St. Teatli, Cornwall.
Rev. J. Brunskill, 8.A., to the Curacy of Allhallows, Cum-
berland.
Rev. F. Day, M.A., to the Mastership of the Grammar-School,
Heighington, Lincolnshire.
Rev. J. J. Day, M.A., Curate of St. Matthew's Denmark hill,
to one of the Incumbent Readerships of Beverley Matthew's,
York.
Rev. J. F. Harward, M.A., to the Perpetual Curacy of Little
Maplestead, near Halstead, Essex.
Rev. H. W. Hickes, M.A., Rector of Cranford, near Hounslow,
to be Chaplain to Mr. Alderman and Sheriff Rose, during the
year of his shrievalty.
Rev. T. H. Kersley, Curate of Devizes, to be Canon Residentiary
and Sub-Dean of Middleham, York.
Rev. S. T. Mosse, M.A., to the Curacy of Tisbury, Wilts.
Rev. J: W. Payne, 8.A., to be Chaplain and Naval Instructor
to H.M.S. Alarm, about to sail for the Pacific.
Rev. H. Pix, M.A., to Le Assistant Curate of Mildenhall, Wilts.
Rev. W . G. Royle, to the Curacy of Pett, near Hastings.
Rev. W. Smith, D.D., to the Curacy of !rifled Bavant and
Ebbesborne Wake, Wilts.
Rev. S. L. Wilson, .8.A., to the Curacy of Prestbury, near
Macclesfield.