FROM PITCAIRN ISLE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVII, Issue 8270, 31 May 1890, Page 2 (Supplement)

FROM PITCAIRN ISLE.

The most interesting mail that has ever been brought to the Philadelphia Post Office ha.">een landed here by the barque Carrie Winslow, now lying at Pier 35, South Wharves, from Valparaiso, Chile, consigned to Postmaster Field. It consists of a bundle of letters written by 120 persons, composing the population of Pitcairn Island, whose lonely and solitary home in the South Pacific Ocean is so far out of the path of travel that masters of vessels trading on the Pacific for years have never caught sight of their abode. It is rare, indeed, that a vessel is able to make the island, although very high out of water, owing to adverse and variable winds. No steam craft go that way. Captain Barrett of the barque says that while beating down in the Pacific trade winds he was hailed by two boat-loads of men who wanted to board his vessel. They had theirs full of tropical fruit, which they wanted to giveforanythingthatthero might be on board. They were welcomed, and then said they were the descendants of the mutineers of the famous ship Bounty, whose master, Captain Bligh, was turned adrift while bringing tropical plants from Tahiti to the West Indies.

Captain Barrett insisted on seeing some of the young ladies, as those in the boats were men, and they returned in a short time with Miss Young, Miss McCoy, and Miss Christian, the leading belles of the island. The latter brought fowls, eggs, and other presents, and were given articles of clothing, flour, etc., in return. Their mail was soon written and sent on board.

The islanders stated that their great fear was that their ocean home would become over-populated. It is three and a-half miles long and a mile broad. Should births increase too rapidly the means of sustenance would be insufficient, since old age is readied by most of the inhabitants. Nervous strain is not great among the island populace, and their years aro thus drawn out. The mail which was turned over to Postmaster Field is destined for all parts of the world.