The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-11-01 00:00:00

VISIT OF HER MAJESTY'S SHIP OPAL
TO PITCAIRN ISLAND.

The following account has been received of a visit paid to
Pitcairn island by the officers of her Majesty's ship Opal.
[Our readers will remember that it was this island which was
colonised by ten of the mutineers of the Bounty, in the year
1789—Captain Bligh and nineteen men hr.ving been turned
adrift in an open boat. The mutineers were e,ccidontally
discovered In 1814, when it appeared that, soon after settling
there, they had married some worqen from a neighbouring
island, and had become a singularly well-conducted com-
munity under the care of Adams, the principal mutineer] :
We have just left a place of great interest—namely,
Pitcairn Island. After a thirty days' passage from
San Francisco we sighted the island at 8 A. M. on the
2nd July, and at ten o'clock anchored of Bounty:Bar
—the first time a man-of-war has anchored there for
about twenty years—it being customary to steam off
and on the island while communicating with it. Im-
mediately on our arrival the islanders launched a boat
through the surf, and came off with a quantity of fruit
for us. The chief magistrate 1476°6 name i.e M'Coy,
came on board, as did also some of the Youn.ss nn3
Christians. I say advisedly some of them, for it is very
' -
=cult to nun out Vlnv on the island, they all
being Youngs, Christians, Mreoyn, or 'Warrens,
although a fashion is coming into vogue, owing to the
confusion caused by thero being only about five names
between iiiiabty4hree Persona—the total population
—ot WivldriaPi iissttrhing, nariatis. Thus, one of
the Christians has taken tho eirth Of Deters/10i and
is bringing up a family under that cognomen,
whilst another 13944 assumed the name of Selwyn:
If this continues into a fep renerat:ans it will to
hard to trace their connection with the origlnM run:HZ
of " Bounty." At one o'clock a number of the
officers landed, and this is how we did it. We went
in one of 11ut boats to sothe distatite ffota the chore, and
th6n Eirsbhoreel; fok see ecaild bet teektistotagh the Ireievy
surf which is always running there. Lloweeer, the
islanders, who managed their boat admirably, came
off for us, and took the wholeV party, numbering
thirteen, in two trips, without even damping us.
Some of the people were on the beach ready to
meet us, and a great deal of hand-shaking at *once
took place, We then started for the settlement up an
eaceeoingly steep hill, and es it had been raining
heavlly fbt two ot' three. data we fotiud, Botha
cult in in climbing, eepecielly after havieg been eve
weeks on board; At the top of the bill almost all the
rest of the people were assembled. I was the first up,
arriving 094 three "„etceq in trout of our chaplain,
Then ensued more " How do you &VT Ree., sobee
of them being so anxious to talk that before you
had time to rusk they would say " Qaite well, thank
you." Cohtieuing onr walk aboiet a hundred sratdis, or
en th'ousb p,..6t, of Sieet betatoek We Crimp. to t.lie
horaec, ainl then the church and, tioheobhonse. We
lent into the church. and Miss Mary 11-oung, who is
schoolmistress, played some of Moody and Sankey's !
hymns on the harmonium, several of the women at the
same time tinging, and that not unpleasantly. All the
houses are completely hidden in the trees, so that from
the sea the island looks uninhabited, uniesa you have
sharp eyes, had can dietinguish cleared patches under
culthation. The principal things ceiltivated are
yam k toveht.pottttoah; aid
.t6ainpkioA, althotlgh there
are many other kinds of vegetable grown. a notiCed
quantities of sugar-cane and coffee plants apparently
growing without any need of cultivation. The inhabi-
tants make sufficient coarse sugar for their own use,
and very good salt is made by the evaporation of the
sea water. I have seen a far inferior article used in
South America. Vegetation is very wild, and thsre is
a heavy growth of ferns. Oranges grow in the wildest
profusion, and after eating them in many parts of the
world, I roust Bay I never tasted any to equal in excel-
made the Pitcairn oranges. Every one who visits the
island makes the same remark. The bread-fruit tree
dose not flourish so well at Pitcairn as at Tahiti and
other South Sea islands, auch et present, the cocoa-
nut trees do not bear vetY well. This, however' could
probably be remedied by the introduction of fresh
plants. Bananas, chirimoyae, and plauteins are also
in grant abundance; from the succulent stein of the
last they make ink, which, however, fades away pretty
soon. Of animals, they have pigs and a few sheep,
whilst in the highlands there are goats, which they
shoot; there are also ducks; and fowls and a few
pigeons. I °Nerved many of the ducks and fowls feed-
-bus on oranges, which would have caused some
astonishment to an English farmer. Cotton is grow-
ing well',Ual kopek Were entertained that enough would
agent be produced, io enable the islanders to obtain
everything they required by bartering with the vessels
which occasionally viaited them. I obtained most of
my inforneetion from Miss Young, whom I was
astonished to, find so well educated, as -she could
taanFersa 'fluerstliess - alaY Subject, Bud_ bestiala',Ve
belt knowledge of liotallY,- Her roothio tie the
"•dangltWr of n American, named Buffett, who
44.01, Al the Asland mOy.. V o,4ra ago l to, teach the
1300rPte tO:,itad and write a , ire is 'now eighty years
old', and fa living at N6rfolk Island. From the church
we proebed6d to See the torisha'of`' John 'Adams, who
was the last eurvivor of the mutineers, Ned who first
instructed the islanders in religion' The gam in