Mountain Home bulletin. (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1888-1889, 1888-08-18
PITCAIRN'S ISLAND.
CRIME THAT RESULTED IN THE EvO-
LUTON OF A NEW PEOPLE.

Mutiny on . British Man Of War Leads
to tho Development Of IA New Race.
The Advantages Of Civilization without
Its Attendant Vices.
The ship Bounty, Dec. 23, 1857, sailed from
Spithead, England, bound for the South Sea.
The ship was under commission from the
British admiralty to visit the Society and
other islands and collect number Of the
bread fruit plants, which were to be taken to
certain of the British West Indies for the
purpose of stocking those islands. The YES
sci started Oh her homeward voyage with
Lieut.. Bligh in command. He was OF an un-
usually overbearing and insulting disposition.
He accused Fletcher Christian, the mate,
with having stolen some cocoanuts which he
had bought at Otaheite one of the islands
they had visited. Christian determined to
get away from the ship, and was informed
by the boatswain that the crew were ready to
mutipy. He surprised the captain in his
berth, made prisoner of him and took pos
session of the ship. The captain and eighteen
of his officers and men We're then set adrift
in an open boat.
Christian, with the twenty-four others
who had remained in the ship, steered for the
Society Island, and sixteen of them finally
ian and the rest, taking with them twelve
Otaheitean women and seven lien, set sail in
the ship for any place that chance might take
them. Nothing was heard of Christian and
those who had gone on the Bounty for twenty
years. At the end of that time an American
Ship happening to touch at Pitcairn's Island,
found there an Englishl = called Alexander
Smith (his name aiteward changed to
John Adamsl, who said he was the sole sur
| vivor of those who had sailed on the Bounty.
! Christian, thinking the island a place
where there would be little chance of their
being discovered, hc.l landed there and
burned the ship. Things went smoothly for
| two years, when one of the men, having lost
his wife, insisted on taking one of the Ota-
heitean mems The Otaheiteans rebellcd and
killed three of the whites The rest of the
whites, with the aid of the women, then
killed all the Otaheitean men. Only four
men were now left on the island. One OF
these succeeded in making an intoxicating
liquor and drank himself to death, another
one was executed by his companions, and a
third died of consumption
Adams, now an old man, became at last
impressed with the responsibility resting
upon him Of teaching the descendants of him
self and his companions the truths Of the
!
In 1880 the inhabitants moved to Norfolk Isl
and, but in 1856 part of them returned to
Pitcairn. This colony has since been remark
able for the purity in which it has retained
the principles inculcated by tho patriarchal
Adams.
Between the years 1860 and 1880 a number
of ships called at the island. In 1888 the
American ship Harry Mills visited the place,
! and one of the inhabitants, named Mccoy
accompanied the ship to Liverpool. In the
same year another American ship, the
Wandering jew, stopped at the island and On
leaving Capt. Talpey, the commander, took
with him another one of the inhabitants
This was Earnest Haywood Christian, the
great grandson of Fletcher Christian. Until
his arrival at Hull England, Earnest Chris
tian had never seen house, horse, or any
quadruped. His delight and astonishmcnt
when he first saw a steam engine and train
were unbounded. On his arrival Christian
was treated with the greatest kindness, and
when he left England took with him many
valuable presents for the islanders.
Christian spent three years on the ship,
visiting San Francisco, and going completely
around the world before he returned to his
island home On her second visit to Pitcairn
Mrs Talpey had with her young English
girl, II years old She was the youngest
person who had ever visited tho island and
great was the interest and admiration she
excited among the girls of her own age.
One in particular, Miss Emily Mccoy, kept
close to her all the timc asking her all man
ner of questions about the outside world.
"You are the first girl of my own age,
outside Of this island that have ever SEEM
she said "Tell me all you can. What do
horse cars look like! And the churches do
you have people enough to fill themF'
Among the island women who visited the
ship on this occasion was Miss Rosalind
Young, one Of the most attractive and enter
prising on the island She was ut this time
about % years old, had never had shoe on
her foot, swan like a fish, played the organ
in the little island church, assisted her father
in teaching tho "village SCHOOL, and was the
leader in everything among the women ON
the island. She has written an account of
the island for The Century, and she told Mrs
Taipey that she never h;id an idle moment
Another curious vein of modern civiliza-
tion that has cropped out on the island is
the desire for some place where one can get
q rest and change from the ordinary routine
of life. On an isolated island only few
miles in circumference, in midocean, and
containing only one village of less than
100 inhabitants, summer residences
would seem to be hardly practicable or de-
srable. Yet these people have already begun
to build, a little way from tho main settle
ment, u small summer colony" where the
older ones may go away for little while
every year and be more retired than they
can in the village, They have named their
retreat "Happy Valley"
The condition of the islanders has lately
been considerably improved by the nulner-
oris visits Of English and American ships.
The population is increasing slowly. In 1879
it was "a. In December, 1882, il was lOS, of
which number 2 were shipwrecked sailors
who had settled there The colony consists
of about 20 families, who live in single story
cottages formed of bamboo, with thatched
roofs. The islanders are still noted for their
strict religious conduct, grace being said
before and after each meal, and swearing or
anything Of similar character being abso.
lutely unknown. When any dispute arises
among them the settlement of it is laid over
till the next arrival of a man of war. when
it is referred to the captain, and his de-
cision is final-New York Press.
Girls Who Ride Tricycles.
Iol, IL =