Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1888-05-30
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ORIGIN OF A NEW RACE.

The ship, Bounty, December %, 1857,
sailed from Spithead, England, bound for
the South Sea. To many of the present
generation the story of.the mutiny that
followed is vague tradition: and that the
lineal descendants of the mutineers are
now living, entirely by themselves, on an
island in the Pacific Ocean, very few have
any knowledge. The island is known as
Pitcairn's Island The ship was under
commission from the British Admiralty to
visit the Society and other islands and COL
lect number of the bread fruit plants,
which were to be takento certain of the
British West Indies for the purpose of
stocking those islands. The vessel started
on her homeward voyage with Lieutenant
Bligh in command. He was of an unusu-
ally overbearing and insulting disposition.
He accused Fletcher Christian, the mate,
of having stolen some cocoanuts which he
had bought at Otaheitef feae of the islands
they had visited Christian determined to
get away from the ship, and was informed
by the boatsWain the crew were ready to
mutiny. He surprised the Captain in his
berth, made prisoner of him and took
possession of the ship. The Captain and
eighteen of his officers and men were then
sent adrift in an open boat.
Christian, with the twenty-four others
who had remained in the ship, steered for
Society Island, and sixteen of them finally
decided to remain at Otaheite, while Chris
tian and the rest, taking with them twelve
Otaheitean women and seven men, 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 English
man called Alexander Smith (his name
was afterwards changed to John Adams),
who said he was sole survivor of those
who had sailed on the Bounty,
Christian, thinking the island place
where there would be little chance of thei.
being discovered, had landed there and
burned the ship. Things went smoothly
for two years, when one of the men, hav-
ing lost his wife, insisted on taking one Of
the Otaheitean mems. The Otaheiteans
rebelled 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 third died of consump-
ton.
Adams, now an old man, became at last
impressed with the responsibility resting
upon him of teaching the descendants of
himself and companions the truths Of the
Bible. The result was model communi-
ty. In 1880 the inhabitants moved to
Norfolk Island, but in 1853 part of them
returned to Pitcairn. This colony has
since been remarkable for the purity in
which it has retained the principles incul-
Gated by the patriarchal Adams.
Between the years 1860 and 1880 num-
ber of ships called at the island. In 1883
the American ship Harry Mills visited the
place, and one of the inhabitants named
Mccoy accompanied the ship to Liver
pool. In the same year another Ameri
can ship, the Wandering JeaU, stopped at
the Island, and on leaving, Captain Tai
pey, took with him another one of the in
habitants. This was Earnest Haywood
Christian, the great grandson OF Fletcher
Christian. Until his arrival at Hull, Eng
land, Earnest Christian had never seen a
delight and establishment when first
he saw steam engine and train were un-
bounded.
Christian spent three years on the ship,
visiting San Francisco and going COM
pletely around the world before he re-
turned to his island home. On her second
visit to Pitcairn Mrs Talpey had with her
a young English girl, seventeen years old.
She was the youngest person who had
ever visited the island, and great was the
interest and admiration she excited among
the girls of her own age. One in particu-
lar, Miss Emily Mccoy, kept close to her
all the time, asking her all manner of
questions about the outside world.
Grc& ,sr1 or,,
outside of this island, that 1 have ever
seen," she said "Tell me all you can.
What do horse cars look like? And the
churches--do you haye people enough to
fill them?"
Among the island women who visited
the ship on this occasion was Miss Rosa
lind Young, one of the most attractive and
enterprising on the island. She was at
this time about % years old, had never
had shoe on her foot, swan like fish,
played the organ in the little island church,
assisted in the "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. Talpey that she never had an idle
moment.
Another curious vein of modern civili-
Zation that has cropped out on the island
is desire for some place where one can
get rest and change from the ordinary rou-
tine of life. On an isolated island only
few miles in circumference, in midocean,
and containing only one village of less
than hundred inhabitants, Summer res
idences" would seem to be hardly practi
cable or desirable. Yet these people have
already begun to build, little way from
the main settlement, a small summer
colony" where the older ones may 60
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 numer-
Gus visits of English and American ships.
The population is increasing slowly. In
1879 it was ninety-four. In December,
1882, it was 1OS, of which number two
were shipwrecked sailors who had settled
there. The colony consists ofabout twenty
families, who live in the single story cot
tages 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
absolutely unknown.
When any dispute arises among them
the settlement of it is laid over till the
next arrival of man-of-War, when it is
referred to the captain, and his decision is
final.-NeaU York Press.
ISLANDER.
No serpent distills such fatal poison as
that which drips from the tongue of the
slanderer.
The former may be counteracted, and at
the worst, only brings a temporal death