The Sun.
London, England, 1849-11-23 00:00:00

PITCAIRN'S ISLAND, PACIFIC
OCEAN.
We have letters from this colony by the Pandora,
arrived on Saturday at Portsmouth, which contain
some interesting details relative to the island, and the
descendants of the unfortunate men connected with
the mutiny of the Bounty, and from which we make
the following extracts :
" Pitcairn's Island, July, 1849.—The number of
inhabitants 149—males 75, females 74—of this num-
ber three are English, one a Otaheitean woman,
widow of Edward Young, midshipman of the Bounty,
aged 80, two men of the first generation, one of them
a son of John Adams (Bounty) named Arthur, and
the other a von of Matthew Quintal (Bounty) named
George, seven females of the first generation, three
daughters of Adams, one of Christian, one of Young,
one of Mills, one of McCoy, the remainder are chil-
dren of the second and third generation.
" During the last five years one-fifth of the popu-
lation have been born, and only one has died a natural
death, one of lock-jaw, and a child burned to death.
The inhabitants are occupied chiefly in cultivating
the ground and carpentering; several of the young
men are good at cabinet work and a 3 black-
smiths. There are eight marriageable males and
seven females at present unmarried. The soil is very
rich but porous; a great proportion decomposed lava,
the other a rich black earth and clayey ground. The
climate is temperate ; thermometer from 59 to 89 in
the shade. The spring commences in August,
which is harvest time, and yams and potatoes are
dug, which is the principal food ; and of potatoes
there are two crops per year, which are planted in
February and July, and dug in June and November.
There are no regular trade winds; in the summer
months the wind prevails mostly from E.S.E. to north.
Northerly winds are generally light, often accompa-
nied with rain or fog ; when the wind is N. it inva-
riably goes round to the westward, from which
quarter and S.E. the strongest gales prevail. With
wind from S.W. it is generally clear weather, with
moderate breezes. In winter prevailing winds
are S.W. to E.S.E. The animal and vegetable
productions of the island ; goats, hops, and poultry,
yams, sweet and Irish potatoes, the api-root and tarro
in small quantities. Plantains : pines, melons, oranges
breadfruit, sugar-canes, limes, and the vi, or Brazi-
lian plum. The only grain is maize. The food of
the inhabitants is chiefly yams and potatoes; animal
food two or three times a week. Fish are getting
scarce. Bed-clothes are generally manufactured by
the females, from the ante, or paper mulberry. Wear-
ing apparel is obtained from whale ships, in exchange
for vegetables, &c. Cotton cloth is much wanted.
Blankets and woollen articles, and soap, very scarce.
" The average number f ships touching at the
island annually is eight or nine, mostly Americans,
and they always behave well. Last year there were
seven ships, ten less than in 1847 ; the last vessel that
touched there was an English brig, from New Zea-
land, bound to California with emigrants, there being
eight English women amongst them.
" On the first day of each year a chief magistrate
and councillor are elected, all persons (male and
female) over sixteen years of age are voters. The chief
magistrate then chooses his counsellor or secretary.
The duty of the magistrate is to convene meet-
ings and hear cases ; it is then left to a jury of
five persons, and if the decision is not satisfactory to
both parties, they are allowed to appeal to the com-
mander of her Majesty's ships of war; punishments
are generally fines or labour. The inhabitants
generally retire to rest early,' and rise with the sun.
From August to November they have plenty of
employment, digging yams ; also planting bananas,
yams, and potatoes), weeding ground, &c., and when
not busily employed they generally meet in the
morning, and, if the weather is favourable go fish-
ing ; if not, on Saturdays they go out bunting for
a Sunday's dinner. On the arrival of a ship off the
island no one is allowed to go on board before the
pilot, who always takes charge of the boats when
landing, and provides for the captain when on shore,
each family in rotation furnishing a pilot, or provid-
ing a substitute, who always expects a small
remuneration for his services. The females
generally assist in the cultivation of the ground,
preparing thatch for the houses, &c , and, in fact,
are more employed than the males ; they are
generally very strong, many of them being able
to cary a barrel of potatoes down to the landing•
place, the path to which is very rugged and steep,
and in the rainy season very difficult to ascend or
descend. Since 1831 there have been 16 deaths ; 4
of them accidental, 4 of fever, 1 a disease of the ear,
1 of the heart, 1 of cancer, 1 of consumption, 2 of in-
fluenza, 1 in childbirth, and lin infancy. The
diseases most prevalent are asthma and catarrh, which
prevail mostly among the females ; bilious attacks
are frequent but slight, and easily give way to treat-
ment. Influenza had visited the island during the
last seven years, and caused 2 deaths.

COLLISION ON A NEW YORK
RAILWAY.
The New York papers received by the Europa con
taro detailed accounts of an alarming railway collision
that happened on the sth inst. We extract the notice
in the New York Herald, as at once the most concise
and the most distinct.
A dreadful accident occurred yesterday forenoon,
on the New Haven railroad, by the collision of two
trains. The up-train, conveying the Boston mail,
and leaving New York at eight o'clock, had
on board in the hindmost car, the mem-
bers of Marion Hose Company, No. 4, Captain
Joseph Buckman, who were going on their annual
target excusion to new Rochelle. There were nearly
sixty in the car, including invited guests. When the
train was between Fordham and Morriania, a drove
of about thirty cows, belonging to Mr. Bathgate,
were being driven across the track, by the herds-
men, from watering. The train coming in collision
with them, the baggage car was thrown off the
track, and across the track of the down train. At
the same moment, the New Haven down train
was passing to New York, and the locomotive
coming in contact with the baggage car of the up-
train, was driven off its track, and being detached
from its train, it shot off at an angle, and went right
into the corner of the hindmost car, containing the
Hose Company. It went through it in a diagonal
direction, wounding and bruising the passengers in a
dreadful manner, and filling the car with steam.
Fortunately the safety pipe was broken in the colli-
sion, and the steam escaping, the force was necessarily
diminished. The engine was shattered, and buried
itself in the sand, by which its progress was arrested.
The sand was thrown up into the air, like so much
smoke. There were 13 of the cows killed, and
some of them were thrown 20 feet by the force of
the shock ; but it is almost miraculous that no
human life was sacrificed—at least we have heard of
none. There was a little buy sitting quite close to
the spot where the locomotive entered it, who was
thrown to the other side, and was not injured in the
least; and a fireman, named James P. Sowerley, of
Stanton-street, was thrown out of the window without
being hurt. The other cars were considerably
damaged, but none of the passengers in them received
the slightest injury. Some of the cars had the
wheels knocked off. The following is a list of the
wounded of Hose Company No. 4 :
George Bailey, 7.5, Norfolk-street—both his legs
broken, one of them in two places, and the other
at the ancle; William Palmer, 161, Stanton-street—
leg greatly injured; William Swinerton, Broome-
street—leg badly bruised; William Wilmott, 240,
Delaney street—hurt in the side and feet ; George
Hobbs, Clinton-street—both legs and hip injured;
William Daley—injured in the breast and back;
John Morgan, Clinton-street—head and breast in-
jured ; Robert Mackay—hurt in the stomach by
being thrown on a chair; Thomas Baker—hand
injured ; George W. Brady—face bruised ; Charles
Dumonlin, Clinton-street—both legs injured.
Here we have a list of ten, besides others whose
names we could not learn, more or less injured. The
amount of injury cannot as yet be ascertained, as
internal bruises have been received, which may
terminate fatally. It is a curious circumstance that
the target, which was exquisitely ornamented, was
not crushed in the least. There were two muskets
broken, and a trumpet of one of the band. The
horn of a cow, dashed off her head, was picked up
fifty feet distant, by a member of the company. We
saw it in the evening, together with a portion of the
whistle of the locomotive. Fortunately there was a
doctor in the train, who gave his services freely to the
wounded. We could not learn his name.
The up-train was delayed for about an hour, and
then proceeded on its way. The down-train was
taken to New York by the flarlem train, and Hose
Company No. 4, after consulting together, resolved to
return by it, instead of pursuing their trip, and to
apply the money they intended to expend upon the
excursion for medical
aicaelcenailadtot thesuff suffering members of
as h
their body, occurred when they were
on duty.
The down train having been placed on the track
by the assistance of Irish labourers, who were work-
ing in the neighbourhood, it was attached to the
Harlem train, and arrived in the city at twelve o'clock.
The members of Hose Company No. 4 conveyed the
wounded to their residences, end Dr. Cockroft was
called in to attend to Mr. Bailey.. In the evening
the company held a meeting at their carriage-room,
and passed resolutions. These gentlemen state that
they heard no alarm whistle from either locomotive.
There is no fence whatever at the place, and no
railway police to keep animals off the track. Some
great change in the management of this and other
railways seems necessary, as a large amount of
human life has been sacrificed of late that might,

...,---- _.
Nintter a different system, have been saved. In Eng-
°
/.."" lend and Germany the railway accidents are not one
f/ -.; taeveur oile hundred that occur on the railways about
ivy .?
'•
New YorX, in proportion to the length of ground
(
#4 "Srvelloa; "And yet no good reason can be assigned
toief,lll9 more should be lost here than upon the
5r.... ,•
111° - -.MO navy other country. Ii not the life of a
IE.

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