The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1895-10-10

There il a spot on this globe where
the golden age still fingers, where
mankind exists in primasval simpli-
city, and peace and security prevail.
To be sure its extent is limited and
its population scanty, but good things
are put up in small parcels, and dia-
monds are not a. large as cObble-
stones.
Some years ago ! was making a
yachting cruise, here, there, and
everywhere, on board a smart little
schooner of go tons, named the Maui
titus. We were about fortnight out
from Sydney, n. S. W., when we en-
countered a heavy gale of wind from
nOrth-northwest that drove US before
it under a close-reefed mainsaiI and a
storm jib for three clustering days,
during which the weather was so
thick that no observation could be
got, and we depended almost wholly
upon the nautical guesswork called
'dead reckoning" which, like the
medical guesswOrk called "diag-
nosis,7 is as frequently wrong as
right. On the fourth day, however,
about noon the sky cleared, and the
owner, skipper, and both mates were
very busy searching the heavens for
our missing latitude and longitude,
which were discovered to be some
where in the South Pacific Ocean, far
from any known land and quite out of
the track of vessels.
The next morning dawned bright
and pleasant, q nice breeze sprung up,
tooling us away like the Zephyrs poets
sing about, and about 9 q. m. q tiny
object seemed to sprOut out of the edge
of the horizon like q button mushroom
in meadow. At first we land lub-
bers thought it was a sperm whale,
an ocean mammal plentiful in that
region, but as il stayed ever in one
place right on our port bow and yet
seemed to grow, as it were, out of the
sea, we determined it was land of
some sort, and were cOmfOrted.
Presently the button mushroom be-
came towering cliff of rugged rock,
'spring to the sky" Then the 'front.'
age OF thick woods clothed the still
ascending mass, then feathery fringe
of cocoa palms enwreathed the base of
a mountain, a tiny bay dotted with
jutting rocks appeared right ahead, and
the crimson folds of a British red mer-
chant ensign fluttered from the top
of a denuded hibiscus and was lowered
in friendly saIutatiOn to- our approach ,
ing vessel.
Our flag was dipped in acknowl- |
edgment, the Nautilus was brought to |
the wind, her fOresail hauled to the !
windward, aud she lay to, gently |
heaving up and down in front of a /
scene that looked like the garden of !
Eden in its most palmy days. before |
the fruit o. Ewes tTansgTes-iOn had !
driven our progenitor5 out into the /
world TO work for their living.
"What Paradise is this, sprung like 1
AphrOdite from the sea?" | asked, !
wondering.
bounty Bay, Pitcairn Island"
answered the skipper; land u ID |
nasty place to be caught in If tue
weather is foul, for there amt an
iuch OF solid hOldin' ground for an an
chor within 5000 miles. HOwsom-
ever, the sky looks peaceful, and
reckon we can skirmish about for day
or so while we fill oUr tanks, get some
fresh grub aboard, AMI give you all
run ashOrew
By this time two smart whalebOats, :
manned by crews of handsome, stall
wart young fellows, brown skinned,
bright eyed and lusty limbed, had put
off and We're dashiug toward the |
schooner, making the spray fly in
arches from their bows. In a minute
they were alongside and leaped on
deck with a merry greeting.
WELCOMED WeIcOmer' they shout
ed in plain English, shaking hands
warmly at the same time. "Glad to
see you at PitcairnW
One young fellow, about twenty
years of age, held back little from
the boisteTous geeting of his cOmpan-
ions, and cOntented himself with
smiling cordially and welcoming us
in more subdued fashion. He had
the brown skin common to all the
lads, but his blue eyes and hair
tinged with gold bespake Anglo
Saxon blood, and his small arched {;
feet and shapely hands proclaimed |
that blood TO be gentle.
His name was Edward Christian, [
great-gTandsOn of the midshipman
Christian, who had led the mutfneers
Of the Bounty in their attack on their s
captain, BIigh. and in the consequent s
settlement on the lonely volcanic rock I
in mid ocean, the burning of their !
ship, and the planting of its varied
largo of all the fruits of the earth, the
bringing forth of which has caused s
he barren rock to burst out in a rich s
ness of bloom, fragrance and beauty {
hat makes, indeed, ''the desert to 6
blossom as the rose" {
Off we started for the shore, on c
which, grouped picturesquely about :
he rocks aud on the little strip of t
hingle that does duty for beach in i
his almost inaccessible spot of lonely (
and, were some dozens of natives. v
We were cordially welcomed by
rowd of happy-loOking, comedy peo- {
lie OF all ages, the girls with their q
.bundant tresses gracefully wreathed 9
With flowers, and wearing each a o
'lais" or garland about a shapely / a
waist or over one shoulder. The elder I
VOmen with palm leaf hats or 'ker- b
hiefs tidily knOtted on their heads,
nd the men dressed in a rough, half L
ailor fashion, but all 5arefoOted, and f,