APPENDIX TO FOURTH EDITION.The interest manifested in that far-away mite in the Pacific—Pitcairn Island—and the avidity with which the first two editions of this book were sought for, has led the publishers to issue this improved edition.Since the publication of the book many articles in regard to Pitcairn have appeared in the newspapers in all parts of this country.The New YorkWorldsent a letter of inquiry to Miss Young, the author of this book, in October, 1893, and her answer appeared in that paper under date of January 13, 1895.The letter is of such general interest and conveys such recent news from Pitcairn, that it is thought best to publish it herewith.We also append an article published inHarper’s Weeklyof December 8, 1894, describing a visit made by Captain Cornelius A. Davis to Pitcairn in March, 1894. The article is of particular interest because it comes from a disinterested observer.PUBLISHERS.MISS YOUNG’S LETTER TO THE “SUNDAY WORLD.”Pitcairn Island, in the South Pacific,}August 18, 1894.}To the Sunday World—It is probable that, such a long time having elapsed before you received any reply to your letter, you have taken it for granted that it never reached its destination. The facts in the case are that it arrived here on the 3d of February last, having been sent on from San Francisco, thence to Tahiti, and from that place to Wellington, New Zealand, to the brigantinePitcairn, our missionary ship, which brought it here on the above-named date.It should have been replied to in February, and the answersent youviaPitcairn, bound to San Francisco, which place she reached somewhere near the end of March, but having had some considerable writing then on hand which it was absolutely necessary that I should finish, I was obliged to let some of my letters go unanswered, yours among the rest, and then, in the unavoidable hurry and bustle consequent upon leave taking, it was forgotten until a day or two ago.Please pardon my carelessness, which has been quite unintentional, as I am one who does not believe in ignoring the correspondence of anyone, and would think myself guilty of rudeness not to send a reply to anyone who should show enough interest in us and our island’s history as to request any information that it is in my power to give.I will with pleasure answer your questions, for the readers of the greatSunday World, and trust they may prove satisfactory to you, but, first, a fact or two concerning myself may prove of interest.I am Young (one of the descendants of the original settlers), but young no longer in years, having completed my forty-first year five days ago, on the 13th inst. At the date when your letter was written, October 26, I had just passed the crisis of a fever typhus that had taken as victims twelve of our number, my honored and beloved father among the number, and, in addition to him, two brothers, a sister, and a niece.In regard to the wish expressed in one or more of my published letters that you mentioned,i. e., that of paying a visit sometime to the outside world, or, rather, to some portion of it, that wish remains still ungratified. My mother’s father was an Englishman, who, at the age of twenty-six, decided to cast in his lot with the little handful of children of the mutineers who were in 1823 ruled over in a sort of patriarchal manner by the sole survivor of the mutineers, John Adams.He, Adams himself, unlettered and unlearned, had, after all the rest of his companions died, most of them having been murdered, wakened up to a sense of the great responsibility that rested upon him, with the growing young community on his hands, and when, in 1823, a whale ship, theCynes, happenedto call in here, he expressed the earnest wish that someone would feel sympathy enough for him and the worse than orphaned children he was striving to lead, according to the best light he had, upward to God and good, to remain and assist him.My grandfather, John Buffett, remained, and ever since I can remember his talking about his early boyhood home in Bristol, England, it has been my wish one day to go there. That dear hope is abandoned. I had a sister who married, and took her two little boys away to Cardigan, Wales, to her husband’s home, and she passed very near our grandfather’s early home, but that was all.Since she went away to Wales, over eight years ago, it has been the earnestly expressed wish of my heart to pay them a visit, but my sister died in April, 1887, having been there only eleven months, and my earnest, longing wish to see my dear little nephews again will never be realized.I have had frequent invitations from many dear, valued friends to visit America, but can see no open way yet. I had my trunk packed ready to go to California last year, but unforeseen circumstances prevented it. Five of our people from this island went, but I was not one, although I deeply grieved over it. All those who went have returned, with the exception of a young man now at school at Healdsburg, and a charming little girl adopted for a time by a minister and his wife, who have been living here, a Mr. and Mrs. Gates. I shall now take up and answer, in regular order, the points in your letter about which you request information. First, school work.How I happened to become connected with that work was in this way—I shall have to go back many years to begin at the start: In the years 1857-1858 two families, not being altogether satisfied with the change of living on Norfolk Island, left that place and returned here, to their old home. Those families consisted of fifteen or sixteen persons, Moses Young and family, and Mayhew Young and family, which were mostly children by the wife’s former husband, a McCoy. It may interest you to know that Mayhew was so named for Captain MayhewFolger, the American captain who discovered, away back in 1808, that this island was inhabited by the children of the mutineers.Well, to be brief, my own father, Simon Young (I cannot begin to tell you how good he was), feeling that the children of the two families that first returned needed someone to look after their educational and spiritual affairs, determined that he would make the effort to return also and do what he could for them. His own educational advantages had been very limited, but he had made the very best use he could of them, and had taught the children, while on Norfolk Island, the art, at least, of reading, writing, and the four principal rules in arithmetic. So, in December, 1863, our family and a few others besides left Norfolk Island to come back here, arriving in the early part of February, 1864.We left a good school and teacher behind, and I have never ceased to regret that it was never my privilege to have gone through some regular course of study, to better enable me to accomplish what has since been my life work, for I was only ten when my return here was made.As soon as possible father took up the work of teaching the few children and young people as best he was able, and, at about fourteen years of age, I began to help him by putting the youngest through the alphabet and first reading lessons. I have had no educational privileges, and only do the best I can, with what success will be known in the great hereafter.In February, 1893, Miss Hattie Andre, a young lady just graduated from a college in Michigan, arrived here to take charge of the school. My loved and honored father, sixty-nine years of age, then retired from the work, leaving it in the hands of Miss Andre and myself. She has a membership of about thirty-four of the young people, and I teach twenty-one of the youngest children, from the age of seven to fourteen, two of mine being Dano-Spanish boys from Mangareva, one of the Gambier Islands. Their sister attends Miss Andre’s school.You inquire about our religious belief. When John Adams took up the work of trying to rear in righteousness the risingyoung community, his sole aids to education were a Bible and Book of Common Prayer, saved from theBounty. With these extremely limited means he taught, quite successfully, the young folks to read, and, instituting some sort of religious services, he very naturally had the liturgy of the Church of England to pattern after.This is what we had followed until October, 1886, when we, as a body, and after ten years’ searching “whether those things were so,” and battling against most unfounded and unreasonable prejudices, joined ourselves to that church known as the Seventh-day Adventists—seventh day because we believe in and preach the letter of the fourth commandment of the decalogue, and Adventists because we believe in the soon coming of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in the clouds of heaven to take his true followers to himself.In our view of the case this is the explanation of so much that the world at large is at present undergoing, and which seems so mysterious to those who do not make the prophecies of God’s word their study.You very rightfully judged that we are kept pretty well posted by means of newspapers and friends, who now and then touch in here on their way to different ports, in regard to what the world is doing, but we have no regular means of correspondence. Our friends abroad take advantage of the occasional trips of our little missionary ship to send us letters and anything else, as she always comes direct to us after leaving California. She arrived on the 17th ult., and proposes to make a quick return to America (if she is not sold, as has been arranged), where she will be about the end of the present year.Several of our people have made visits to some of the neighboring islands and some have gone to England and back, but I do not think the words “dissatisfied with our lot” can be properly applied to anyone here. In regard to myself personally, I am so in love with the free, natural life I enjoy here that I would not willingly exchange it for any other, much as I would enjoy a visit to your shores and to see in reality the life of the world of which I have read so largely—life in all its phases,from the high-toned “society” life to the very lowest. So that I do not feel that “surprised” would correctly describe my impressions.Yes, marriage is—shall I say it?—committed among our people, the different family names numbering seven. Young, McCoy, and Christian are of the original families, and those who have come in later on are Buffett, Warren, Butler, and Coffin, the last three being Americans, and only the very last, Coffin, still lives. I think away back in the long past there were some curious “love stories” which would prove quite interesting reading, and within my own knowledge there are several that would make a good foundation for very entertaining stories should someone be found to weave them.From the time of John Adams until the last marriage ceremony took place here—that was in 1889 (I seem to see you smile at the long space that intervenes)—the form used has been that of the Church of England. In the eighties the young people seemed to think that the chief end of man and woman, or rather of boy and girl, was marriage; and scarcely had they arrived at man’s and woman’s estate, certainly not to the estate of wisdom and prudence, when marriage was contracted. At present, and it gladdens my heart to see it, more efforts are made at getting some education than in getting married, and we have quite a company of young men and women who think more of getting what they can out of their schoolbooks than of being bound for life to one another.I am not exactly posted as to the number of inhabitants here at present, but think that after the fourteen deaths that took place last year the population is about 136 only, the largest part being children under the age of sixteen.It is quite universally accepted among people of the world outside our own little speck of earth that coined money is an almost unheard-of, unknown, and, of course, unused article among us, but such are not the real facts in the case. Our circumstances make it possible to exist, as far as the necessities of life are concerned, without the use of money,i. e., as far as food, fuel, water, and our houses are concerned, but for clothingwe depend upon the product of our island, which we sell, when the opportunity offers, to a trader who calls here and brings us our supplies in that line. In addition to this, many friends have contributed from time to time very largely to our comfort in gifts of clothing and other things that we cannot procure here.Our “standard of value” is the American dollar and the English pounds, shillings, and pence, on which no discount is made here, as we are English subjects. It would amuse you to see how many and various are the coins that pass through our hands, and whose value often puzzles us. As we are not in a position to obtain (except on occasions when we are visited by a British ship of war) more than a few cents at a time, in exchange for fruit and curios, we do not, as do Sabbath schools abroad, contribute every week, but the dimes, quarters, shillings and pence that may be obtained from passing ships are carefully hoarded for the quarterly donation.We have a Sabbath school of 125 members, varying in age from two years to seventy-two; and happy the child, as well as the grown-up, who has an offering as large as a quarter to donate at the beginning of every quarter. We are glad at the thought of our little “mite” contributed towards the missionary shipPitcairn, the first one to be built and used in the interests of the Seventh-day Adventists, and that our Sabbath school is self-supporting.Our amusements consist, I may say, in a change of occupations. A peculiar way in which to amuse one’s self, you will think, but really our time is too fully occupied in so many different ways to have time or inclination even for amusements that are amusements merely. If the boys can have enough powder for their guns to boom away at their own sweet will, they ask for no greater pleasure, and one unwearying source of enjoyment for the young people here is to gather around an organ and spend the time in singing to the accompaniment of the instrument.You ask if a photographer has ever come to our shores. Yes, many of them, and many views have been taken, not only of the varied scenery, but of the people, mostly in groups. LastMarch an American shipmaster, Captain Davis, was here and spent most of his time taking pictures. Among others, he took that of Miss Andre and her school, and of me and my bare-footed little boys and girls.The gentleman and lady mentioned above, Mr. and Mrs. Gates, had been living with us for eighteen months, and last February, when they were leaving, I gave Mr. Gates a manuscript copy of a little work I had been writing, the facts connected with this island’s history from the time it was inhabited by theBounty’smutineers up to date. I did not confine myself to solid work, but only wrote at long intervals, so that what should have been finished within a short time was dragged out to a length of six years. Possibly some of the photographic views taken here will be used to illustrate the little work. It should be going through the press now, if not already gone, and will be brought out in book form—only a very simple, modest affair—at the Pacific Press, Oakland, Cal., where you may obtain a copy if you have enough interest in it to order one.I have already written longer then I should have done, and fear my long letter will prove a tax to your patience, but your questions have been answered at some length, so I trust you will excuse my trespassing on your valuable time to read all this product of my pen.I shall be pleased to have you write when you are so inclined, and also to learn when you get this letter.Yours very cordially,Rosalind A. Young.A VISIT TO PITCAIRN ISLAND.When Captain Cornelius A. Davis, of the five-masted schoonerGovernor Ames—the only schooner of her class in the world, as well as the largest fore-and-aft vessel in existence—dropped anchor off Pitcairn Island, four thousand miles south of San Francisco, a few months ago, he was surprised to find himself greeted by name by a delegation of islanders who came on board. The inhabitants of the historic little island are accustomedto keep a sharp lookout for all passing vessels, and as soon as one is sighted in the offing, a boat pushes out to her, carrying friendly greetings and the offer of any assistance that may be needed. From each captain news of the ship he has left behind in the last port is obtained, together with the probable date of their sailing; so that in a majority of instances when a vessel reaches Pitcairn she is recognized immediately, and the skipper discovers that he does not need any introduction to his new-found island friends—for such they very soon prove themselves to be. He is invited to land and partake of the best the island affords, and the impression he carries away with him is uniformally a pleasant one. Captain Davis says that he would have been glad to stay at the island two or three days if there had been any good excuse for doing so, but after he had secured some fresh fruit for the crew, he felt compelled to resume his voyage. Puget Sound had been left behind thirty-five days earlier, and Liverpool was still one hundred and twenty-nine days away.There is no more picturesque incident, perhaps, in the annals of marine venture than the mutiny on board the British shipBounty, in 1789, and the subsequent landing of several of the mutineers on Pitcairn Island, a speck of land which had been discovered some years before by Carteret, and named for the midshipman who first descried it from the masthead. These mutineers, fearing punishment, resolved to hide themselves from the world, and accordingly sought out this lonely spot, and, together with a number of Polynesian men and women, founded a new community far from the ordinary track of commerce. At first, according to the scant historical accounts which have come down to us, there was riot and reveling on the island, but gradually the rougher element in the population disappeared, and when the American vesselTopazrediscovered the little settlement in 1808, it seems to have been orderly and prosperous. For more than half a generation the whereabouts of the mutineers of theBountyhad been a mystery, and their rediscovery at this time aroused a good deal of interest, especially in England. It was as if the sea had given up itsdead. Everything pertaining to the little strip of land in the far Pacific was hailed with interest, and in the eighty-six years since then many books and papers descriptive of it and its people have been written. In a few weeks another volume is to be published in California by the Seventh-day Adventists, who have recently succeeded in converting the islanders to their faith. Formerly they were associated with the Church of England.The community to-day is a model one in many respects. Since the time of the hardy mutineers a great change has taken place, and it is said that nobody on the island ever indulges in intoxicants, tobacco, or profanity. A rude church and schoolhouse—the structure shown in two of the illustrations accompanying this article—has been erected, and one of the descendants of the early settlers preaches regularly to all the members of the settlement, for church going is regarded as a matter of course on Pitcairn; and, moreover, there are not very many other divertisements. When it is remembered that there are only about one hundred and thirty people on the entire island, and that the island is scarcely three miles in length, it is easy to understand the lack of excitement which sometimes characterizes life there. And yet a spirit of intense loyalty pervades the community. Nobody has any desire to remove permanently to any other place, and those who visit the United States and Great Britain do so merely to prepare themselves for more useful labor at home. The other day young Henry Christian, a descendant of the leader of the mutiny on board theBounty, arrived in San Francisco, whither he had come for the purpose of pursuing a course of study at an American school, but there can be no doubt that he will return in due time to Pitcairn. With him came also the president of the island, James R. McCoy; for the islanders elect an officer with this title, although they are under the nominal rule of England. Queen Victoria sent them two lifeboats some years ago, and these are used constantly in boarding the vessels that anchor off shore. A British flag, too, flies from one of the peaks of the island, the flagstaff being planted in the muzzle of one of the old cannon with which theBountywas equipped.Captain Davis is an expert amateur photographer, and he succeeded, during his few hours’ stay on the island, in getting some admirable views of the people and their surroundings. One of these views [see page231] shows most of the adult inhabitants grouped around Miss Andre, a young woman from Ohio, who assists the native minister in his religious work, and instructs the men and women of the community in the ordinary branches of education. Captain Davis listened to a well-recited lesson in geography the day he was there, and he says that these grown-up students seemed intelligent and eager to learn. Their faces are strong and impressive, and while there is a considerable trace of “Kanaka” blood in most of the countenances, others are thoroughly Caucasian. The mixture of totally dissimilar races has in this instance, at least, resulted in a sturdy, resourceful, and self-reliant stock.The primary school is taught by Miss Rosa Young, a native of Pitcairn, and the author of the book descriptive of the island which is about to be published. She is the island editor as well as schoolteacher, writing a chronicle of the community from time to time, which passes from one to another of the people. There is no printing press on the island, and this is the only contemporary record of its doings enjoyed by the settlement. But then, with only one hundred and thirty people to keep track of, doubtless everybody who is so inclined contrives to be pretty well posted. On two different occasions Pitcairn has been deserted by its inhabitants, for one reason or another, and the present inhabitants are descended mostly from two families who returned to the island as late as 1858. In 1830 the eighty-seven people then resident there removed to Tahiti through fear of drought, and, though the moral laxity of the latter place so disturbed them that they went back to Pitcairn the next year, in 1856 they undertook a second pilgrimage, this time to Norfolk Island, where many of them or their descendants live to-day. William and Moses Young, together with their families, however, appear to have pined for Pitcairn, and accordingly journeyed back there again.The landing place shown in one of the pictures [see page27]on another page is at Bounty Bay, where the original settlers of the island destroyed their vessel more than a hundred years ago, and where, as the illustration shows, many of the inhabitants gathered to bid Captain Davis good-by. Up from this spot runs a path to the settlement itself, which is three or four hundred feet above the level of the sea. The main street is bordered with palm trees, and the thatched cottages on either side give evidence of thrift and prosperity. There are no cows or oxen on the island, but goats are plentiful, and as the land is steep and rocky in places, these sure-footed animals are doubtless better adapted to the needs of the people. Oranges grow in abundance, and so do sweet potatoes, yams, bananas, and pineapples. Captain Davis says that the dinner provided in his honor at the house of the Advent missionary was bountiful and excellent.In these days of hurry and bustle it is refreshing to catch a glimpse of an Arcadian community like this, whose little world is far removed from all our modern tendencies in civilization. There are no telephones or telegraphs on Pitcairn Island; no oceanic cable brings from the distant mainland the tidings of war or catastrophe on the other side of the globe. Scarcely any of the inhabitants ever saw a railway train or an electric light, and probably not even one of them has ever been inside of a theater. The papers and magazines that they read are weeks old by the time they reach Pitcairn, and much that they contain must be as unintelligible as Greek to the islanders. What do they know of college football games? or how much can they comprehend of the excitement of a presidential election? They are a people apart, and their horizon is bounded by limitless sea and sky.—Henry Robinson Palmer, in Harper’s Weekly, December 8, 1894.
APPENDIX TO FOURTH EDITION.
The interest manifested in that far-away mite in the Pacific—Pitcairn Island—and the avidity with which the first two editions of this book were sought for, has led the publishers to issue this improved edition.
Since the publication of the book many articles in regard to Pitcairn have appeared in the newspapers in all parts of this country.
The New YorkWorldsent a letter of inquiry to Miss Young, the author of this book, in October, 1893, and her answer appeared in that paper under date of January 13, 1895.
The letter is of such general interest and conveys such recent news from Pitcairn, that it is thought best to publish it herewith.
We also append an article published inHarper’s Weeklyof December 8, 1894, describing a visit made by Captain Cornelius A. Davis to Pitcairn in March, 1894. The article is of particular interest because it comes from a disinterested observer.
PUBLISHERS.
MISS YOUNG’S LETTER TO THE “SUNDAY WORLD.”
Pitcairn Island, in the South Pacific,}
August 18, 1894.}
To the Sunday World—
It is probable that, such a long time having elapsed before you received any reply to your letter, you have taken it for granted that it never reached its destination. The facts in the case are that it arrived here on the 3d of February last, having been sent on from San Francisco, thence to Tahiti, and from that place to Wellington, New Zealand, to the brigantinePitcairn, our missionary ship, which brought it here on the above-named date.
It should have been replied to in February, and the answersent youviaPitcairn, bound to San Francisco, which place she reached somewhere near the end of March, but having had some considerable writing then on hand which it was absolutely necessary that I should finish, I was obliged to let some of my letters go unanswered, yours among the rest, and then, in the unavoidable hurry and bustle consequent upon leave taking, it was forgotten until a day or two ago.
Please pardon my carelessness, which has been quite unintentional, as I am one who does not believe in ignoring the correspondence of anyone, and would think myself guilty of rudeness not to send a reply to anyone who should show enough interest in us and our island’s history as to request any information that it is in my power to give.
I will with pleasure answer your questions, for the readers of the greatSunday World, and trust they may prove satisfactory to you, but, first, a fact or two concerning myself may prove of interest.
I am Young (one of the descendants of the original settlers), but young no longer in years, having completed my forty-first year five days ago, on the 13th inst. At the date when your letter was written, October 26, I had just passed the crisis of a fever typhus that had taken as victims twelve of our number, my honored and beloved father among the number, and, in addition to him, two brothers, a sister, and a niece.
In regard to the wish expressed in one or more of my published letters that you mentioned,i. e., that of paying a visit sometime to the outside world, or, rather, to some portion of it, that wish remains still ungratified. My mother’s father was an Englishman, who, at the age of twenty-six, decided to cast in his lot with the little handful of children of the mutineers who were in 1823 ruled over in a sort of patriarchal manner by the sole survivor of the mutineers, John Adams.
He, Adams himself, unlettered and unlearned, had, after all the rest of his companions died, most of them having been murdered, wakened up to a sense of the great responsibility that rested upon him, with the growing young community on his hands, and when, in 1823, a whale ship, theCynes, happenedto call in here, he expressed the earnest wish that someone would feel sympathy enough for him and the worse than orphaned children he was striving to lead, according to the best light he had, upward to God and good, to remain and assist him.
My grandfather, John Buffett, remained, and ever since I can remember his talking about his early boyhood home in Bristol, England, it has been my wish one day to go there. That dear hope is abandoned. I had a sister who married, and took her two little boys away to Cardigan, Wales, to her husband’s home, and she passed very near our grandfather’s early home, but that was all.
Since she went away to Wales, over eight years ago, it has been the earnestly expressed wish of my heart to pay them a visit, but my sister died in April, 1887, having been there only eleven months, and my earnest, longing wish to see my dear little nephews again will never be realized.
I have had frequent invitations from many dear, valued friends to visit America, but can see no open way yet. I had my trunk packed ready to go to California last year, but unforeseen circumstances prevented it. Five of our people from this island went, but I was not one, although I deeply grieved over it. All those who went have returned, with the exception of a young man now at school at Healdsburg, and a charming little girl adopted for a time by a minister and his wife, who have been living here, a Mr. and Mrs. Gates. I shall now take up and answer, in regular order, the points in your letter about which you request information. First, school work.
How I happened to become connected with that work was in this way—I shall have to go back many years to begin at the start: In the years 1857-1858 two families, not being altogether satisfied with the change of living on Norfolk Island, left that place and returned here, to their old home. Those families consisted of fifteen or sixteen persons, Moses Young and family, and Mayhew Young and family, which were mostly children by the wife’s former husband, a McCoy. It may interest you to know that Mayhew was so named for Captain MayhewFolger, the American captain who discovered, away back in 1808, that this island was inhabited by the children of the mutineers.
Well, to be brief, my own father, Simon Young (I cannot begin to tell you how good he was), feeling that the children of the two families that first returned needed someone to look after their educational and spiritual affairs, determined that he would make the effort to return also and do what he could for them. His own educational advantages had been very limited, but he had made the very best use he could of them, and had taught the children, while on Norfolk Island, the art, at least, of reading, writing, and the four principal rules in arithmetic. So, in December, 1863, our family and a few others besides left Norfolk Island to come back here, arriving in the early part of February, 1864.
We left a good school and teacher behind, and I have never ceased to regret that it was never my privilege to have gone through some regular course of study, to better enable me to accomplish what has since been my life work, for I was only ten when my return here was made.
As soon as possible father took up the work of teaching the few children and young people as best he was able, and, at about fourteen years of age, I began to help him by putting the youngest through the alphabet and first reading lessons. I have had no educational privileges, and only do the best I can, with what success will be known in the great hereafter.
In February, 1893, Miss Hattie Andre, a young lady just graduated from a college in Michigan, arrived here to take charge of the school. My loved and honored father, sixty-nine years of age, then retired from the work, leaving it in the hands of Miss Andre and myself. She has a membership of about thirty-four of the young people, and I teach twenty-one of the youngest children, from the age of seven to fourteen, two of mine being Dano-Spanish boys from Mangareva, one of the Gambier Islands. Their sister attends Miss Andre’s school.
You inquire about our religious belief. When John Adams took up the work of trying to rear in righteousness the risingyoung community, his sole aids to education were a Bible and Book of Common Prayer, saved from theBounty. With these extremely limited means he taught, quite successfully, the young folks to read, and, instituting some sort of religious services, he very naturally had the liturgy of the Church of England to pattern after.
This is what we had followed until October, 1886, when we, as a body, and after ten years’ searching “whether those things were so,” and battling against most unfounded and unreasonable prejudices, joined ourselves to that church known as the Seventh-day Adventists—seventh day because we believe in and preach the letter of the fourth commandment of the decalogue, and Adventists because we believe in the soon coming of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in the clouds of heaven to take his true followers to himself.
In our view of the case this is the explanation of so much that the world at large is at present undergoing, and which seems so mysterious to those who do not make the prophecies of God’s word their study.
You very rightfully judged that we are kept pretty well posted by means of newspapers and friends, who now and then touch in here on their way to different ports, in regard to what the world is doing, but we have no regular means of correspondence. Our friends abroad take advantage of the occasional trips of our little missionary ship to send us letters and anything else, as she always comes direct to us after leaving California. She arrived on the 17th ult., and proposes to make a quick return to America (if she is not sold, as has been arranged), where she will be about the end of the present year.
Several of our people have made visits to some of the neighboring islands and some have gone to England and back, but I do not think the words “dissatisfied with our lot” can be properly applied to anyone here. In regard to myself personally, I am so in love with the free, natural life I enjoy here that I would not willingly exchange it for any other, much as I would enjoy a visit to your shores and to see in reality the life of the world of which I have read so largely—life in all its phases,from the high-toned “society” life to the very lowest. So that I do not feel that “surprised” would correctly describe my impressions.
Yes, marriage is—shall I say it?—committed among our people, the different family names numbering seven. Young, McCoy, and Christian are of the original families, and those who have come in later on are Buffett, Warren, Butler, and Coffin, the last three being Americans, and only the very last, Coffin, still lives. I think away back in the long past there were some curious “love stories” which would prove quite interesting reading, and within my own knowledge there are several that would make a good foundation for very entertaining stories should someone be found to weave them.
From the time of John Adams until the last marriage ceremony took place here—that was in 1889 (I seem to see you smile at the long space that intervenes)—the form used has been that of the Church of England. In the eighties the young people seemed to think that the chief end of man and woman, or rather of boy and girl, was marriage; and scarcely had they arrived at man’s and woman’s estate, certainly not to the estate of wisdom and prudence, when marriage was contracted. At present, and it gladdens my heart to see it, more efforts are made at getting some education than in getting married, and we have quite a company of young men and women who think more of getting what they can out of their schoolbooks than of being bound for life to one another.
I am not exactly posted as to the number of inhabitants here at present, but think that after the fourteen deaths that took place last year the population is about 136 only, the largest part being children under the age of sixteen.
It is quite universally accepted among people of the world outside our own little speck of earth that coined money is an almost unheard-of, unknown, and, of course, unused article among us, but such are not the real facts in the case. Our circumstances make it possible to exist, as far as the necessities of life are concerned, without the use of money,i. e., as far as food, fuel, water, and our houses are concerned, but for clothingwe depend upon the product of our island, which we sell, when the opportunity offers, to a trader who calls here and brings us our supplies in that line. In addition to this, many friends have contributed from time to time very largely to our comfort in gifts of clothing and other things that we cannot procure here.
Our “standard of value” is the American dollar and the English pounds, shillings, and pence, on which no discount is made here, as we are English subjects. It would amuse you to see how many and various are the coins that pass through our hands, and whose value often puzzles us. As we are not in a position to obtain (except on occasions when we are visited by a British ship of war) more than a few cents at a time, in exchange for fruit and curios, we do not, as do Sabbath schools abroad, contribute every week, but the dimes, quarters, shillings and pence that may be obtained from passing ships are carefully hoarded for the quarterly donation.
We have a Sabbath school of 125 members, varying in age from two years to seventy-two; and happy the child, as well as the grown-up, who has an offering as large as a quarter to donate at the beginning of every quarter. We are glad at the thought of our little “mite” contributed towards the missionary shipPitcairn, the first one to be built and used in the interests of the Seventh-day Adventists, and that our Sabbath school is self-supporting.
Our amusements consist, I may say, in a change of occupations. A peculiar way in which to amuse one’s self, you will think, but really our time is too fully occupied in so many different ways to have time or inclination even for amusements that are amusements merely. If the boys can have enough powder for their guns to boom away at their own sweet will, they ask for no greater pleasure, and one unwearying source of enjoyment for the young people here is to gather around an organ and spend the time in singing to the accompaniment of the instrument.
You ask if a photographer has ever come to our shores. Yes, many of them, and many views have been taken, not only of the varied scenery, but of the people, mostly in groups. LastMarch an American shipmaster, Captain Davis, was here and spent most of his time taking pictures. Among others, he took that of Miss Andre and her school, and of me and my bare-footed little boys and girls.
The gentleman and lady mentioned above, Mr. and Mrs. Gates, had been living with us for eighteen months, and last February, when they were leaving, I gave Mr. Gates a manuscript copy of a little work I had been writing, the facts connected with this island’s history from the time it was inhabited by theBounty’smutineers up to date. I did not confine myself to solid work, but only wrote at long intervals, so that what should have been finished within a short time was dragged out to a length of six years. Possibly some of the photographic views taken here will be used to illustrate the little work. It should be going through the press now, if not already gone, and will be brought out in book form—only a very simple, modest affair—at the Pacific Press, Oakland, Cal., where you may obtain a copy if you have enough interest in it to order one.
I have already written longer then I should have done, and fear my long letter will prove a tax to your patience, but your questions have been answered at some length, so I trust you will excuse my trespassing on your valuable time to read all this product of my pen.
I shall be pleased to have you write when you are so inclined, and also to learn when you get this letter.
Yours very cordially,Rosalind A. Young.
When Captain Cornelius A. Davis, of the five-masted schoonerGovernor Ames—the only schooner of her class in the world, as well as the largest fore-and-aft vessel in existence—dropped anchor off Pitcairn Island, four thousand miles south of San Francisco, a few months ago, he was surprised to find himself greeted by name by a delegation of islanders who came on board. The inhabitants of the historic little island are accustomedto keep a sharp lookout for all passing vessels, and as soon as one is sighted in the offing, a boat pushes out to her, carrying friendly greetings and the offer of any assistance that may be needed. From each captain news of the ship he has left behind in the last port is obtained, together with the probable date of their sailing; so that in a majority of instances when a vessel reaches Pitcairn she is recognized immediately, and the skipper discovers that he does not need any introduction to his new-found island friends—for such they very soon prove themselves to be. He is invited to land and partake of the best the island affords, and the impression he carries away with him is uniformally a pleasant one. Captain Davis says that he would have been glad to stay at the island two or three days if there had been any good excuse for doing so, but after he had secured some fresh fruit for the crew, he felt compelled to resume his voyage. Puget Sound had been left behind thirty-five days earlier, and Liverpool was still one hundred and twenty-nine days away.
There is no more picturesque incident, perhaps, in the annals of marine venture than the mutiny on board the British shipBounty, in 1789, and the subsequent landing of several of the mutineers on Pitcairn Island, a speck of land which had been discovered some years before by Carteret, and named for the midshipman who first descried it from the masthead. These mutineers, fearing punishment, resolved to hide themselves from the world, and accordingly sought out this lonely spot, and, together with a number of Polynesian men and women, founded a new community far from the ordinary track of commerce. At first, according to the scant historical accounts which have come down to us, there was riot and reveling on the island, but gradually the rougher element in the population disappeared, and when the American vesselTopazrediscovered the little settlement in 1808, it seems to have been orderly and prosperous. For more than half a generation the whereabouts of the mutineers of theBountyhad been a mystery, and their rediscovery at this time aroused a good deal of interest, especially in England. It was as if the sea had given up itsdead. Everything pertaining to the little strip of land in the far Pacific was hailed with interest, and in the eighty-six years since then many books and papers descriptive of it and its people have been written. In a few weeks another volume is to be published in California by the Seventh-day Adventists, who have recently succeeded in converting the islanders to their faith. Formerly they were associated with the Church of England.
The community to-day is a model one in many respects. Since the time of the hardy mutineers a great change has taken place, and it is said that nobody on the island ever indulges in intoxicants, tobacco, or profanity. A rude church and schoolhouse—the structure shown in two of the illustrations accompanying this article—has been erected, and one of the descendants of the early settlers preaches regularly to all the members of the settlement, for church going is regarded as a matter of course on Pitcairn; and, moreover, there are not very many other divertisements. When it is remembered that there are only about one hundred and thirty people on the entire island, and that the island is scarcely three miles in length, it is easy to understand the lack of excitement which sometimes characterizes life there. And yet a spirit of intense loyalty pervades the community. Nobody has any desire to remove permanently to any other place, and those who visit the United States and Great Britain do so merely to prepare themselves for more useful labor at home. The other day young Henry Christian, a descendant of the leader of the mutiny on board theBounty, arrived in San Francisco, whither he had come for the purpose of pursuing a course of study at an American school, but there can be no doubt that he will return in due time to Pitcairn. With him came also the president of the island, James R. McCoy; for the islanders elect an officer with this title, although they are under the nominal rule of England. Queen Victoria sent them two lifeboats some years ago, and these are used constantly in boarding the vessels that anchor off shore. A British flag, too, flies from one of the peaks of the island, the flagstaff being planted in the muzzle of one of the old cannon with which theBountywas equipped.
Captain Davis is an expert amateur photographer, and he succeeded, during his few hours’ stay on the island, in getting some admirable views of the people and their surroundings. One of these views [see page231] shows most of the adult inhabitants grouped around Miss Andre, a young woman from Ohio, who assists the native minister in his religious work, and instructs the men and women of the community in the ordinary branches of education. Captain Davis listened to a well-recited lesson in geography the day he was there, and he says that these grown-up students seemed intelligent and eager to learn. Their faces are strong and impressive, and while there is a considerable trace of “Kanaka” blood in most of the countenances, others are thoroughly Caucasian. The mixture of totally dissimilar races has in this instance, at least, resulted in a sturdy, resourceful, and self-reliant stock.
The primary school is taught by Miss Rosa Young, a native of Pitcairn, and the author of the book descriptive of the island which is about to be published. She is the island editor as well as schoolteacher, writing a chronicle of the community from time to time, which passes from one to another of the people. There is no printing press on the island, and this is the only contemporary record of its doings enjoyed by the settlement. But then, with only one hundred and thirty people to keep track of, doubtless everybody who is so inclined contrives to be pretty well posted. On two different occasions Pitcairn has been deserted by its inhabitants, for one reason or another, and the present inhabitants are descended mostly from two families who returned to the island as late as 1858. In 1830 the eighty-seven people then resident there removed to Tahiti through fear of drought, and, though the moral laxity of the latter place so disturbed them that they went back to Pitcairn the next year, in 1856 they undertook a second pilgrimage, this time to Norfolk Island, where many of them or their descendants live to-day. William and Moses Young, together with their families, however, appear to have pined for Pitcairn, and accordingly journeyed back there again.
The landing place shown in one of the pictures [see page27]on another page is at Bounty Bay, where the original settlers of the island destroyed their vessel more than a hundred years ago, and where, as the illustration shows, many of the inhabitants gathered to bid Captain Davis good-by. Up from this spot runs a path to the settlement itself, which is three or four hundred feet above the level of the sea. The main street is bordered with palm trees, and the thatched cottages on either side give evidence of thrift and prosperity. There are no cows or oxen on the island, but goats are plentiful, and as the land is steep and rocky in places, these sure-footed animals are doubtless better adapted to the needs of the people. Oranges grow in abundance, and so do sweet potatoes, yams, bananas, and pineapples. Captain Davis says that the dinner provided in his honor at the house of the Advent missionary was bountiful and excellent.
In these days of hurry and bustle it is refreshing to catch a glimpse of an Arcadian community like this, whose little world is far removed from all our modern tendencies in civilization. There are no telephones or telegraphs on Pitcairn Island; no oceanic cable brings from the distant mainland the tidings of war or catastrophe on the other side of the globe. Scarcely any of the inhabitants ever saw a railway train or an electric light, and probably not even one of them has ever been inside of a theater. The papers and magazines that they read are weeks old by the time they reach Pitcairn, and much that they contain must be as unintelligible as Greek to the islanders. What do they know of college football games? or how much can they comprehend of the excitement of a presidential election? They are a people apart, and their horizon is bounded by limitless sea and sky.—Henry Robinson Palmer, in Harper’s Weekly, December 8, 1894.