Smyrna times., 1856-06-25
An Ocean Romance.

) we Ind IN recent number of the Friend
g. paper published al Honolulu, Sandwich lei
anus, letter from Mr.. George II. Nobbs. wh,
lor %| years has labored as pastor and teach
er am~ng the descendants of the mutineers q
the ship Bounty, at Pitcairn's Island. MIR
Nobbs says that the people, having increase,
TO nearly 200, their little rocky island of ftou
and half miles circumference, is BECOMING ia,
strait for them. They cannot afford to raise an
mai food, their su ply of vegetables batelv OK.
ceeds their wants, and frey wood is becomino
scarce. Under these peculiar circumstances tho
brltlsh government proposes to remove them
10 Norfolk Island, from which the penal sell
tlement Is to be withdrawn. The Islanders
nave consented to this proposal, though sone
oi the older people wish to remain. This peculiar
people once before emigrated from their native
Island, having, IN 1880, been removed to r.; ,
h'C. There howevcr,they soon became discon-
tented, and their simplicity and purity of NOR.
tails greatly deterlOrated. In less than a vear
they effected a return to their own beloved
island. 1t is to be hoped their proposed reno
val to NOrlork Island will be productive of
more ausplcious results. In any evenr. how
ever, they will probably lose their social iden-
llty, and the peculiar character which the
unique circumstances of their origin and manner
OF life have given them. The removal thele-
fore, may be looked upon as the conclusion of
one OF the most extraordinary romances of the
sea, known in all history.
1t is nOw67 years since that memorable mutt
ny occurred on board the English ship Bounty.
which led to the settlement of pitcairns ISL
and by nine of the mutneers, and a number Of
Tahltlan men and women, under the lead of
Fletcher Christian, their Chief. How tAev
quarreled and murdered each other. until onlv
John Adams and the woman and children sur
vived; how the then repentant mutireer in
structed the children, and brought them up in
the fear of God and the practice ofthe purest
morals, until most remarkable community
sprang up IN that secluded island is known to
all the world. Poets have sung the story, and
romahcers have been content to state the sim
PIE Iacts without addition or exaggertiOn. Great
must nave been the astonlshment of that sea
captain VINO, the hrst to touch at the supposed
unlnhablted islands, Is years after its settle
ment by the mutlneers, found there an English
speaking people, living in what seemed to the
wondering vOyagcrs u state OF Eden-like purity
and repose. "WhO are you!" said the startled
captain. "Englishmen, because our fatter was
an Englishman." "Who is your father r'-
With great simplicity they replied, Aleck-
don't you know Aleck!' The story, of Aleck
aud his children soon became the marvel of the
world, and the prospects of the islanders have
never decreased to this day. Mr. Nobos saws
the domestic habits Of the community are now
more IN accordance with the customs of civil
lIzed society than they were thirty years ago.
but Otherwise there is little alteration.
That community so remarkable for simpli-
city and purity should have sprung from so ini
quItous an origin, is a striking exempilication
OF the elevating influences of the Blble-the
book from which John Adams drew al his teach
ngs and his laws.
The little, rocky and almost unapproa chablc
island, so soon TO be again left without .nhabl-
tants, will always possess an interest second
only to that which cncirces that other rock OF
The ocean, St. Helena. As the scene of one
OF the most romantic episodes in human his
tory, that lonely spot must ever be connected
with associations as pleasing as they ure re-
markable.-POrttand Transcript.