A TALE OF THE SOUTH SEAS.

Waka Maori, Volume 11, Issue 5, 9 March 1875, Page 52

A TALE OF THE SOUTH SEAS.

That part of the South Sea to the north of New Zealand is studded with islands, the greater number of them being small in size, while others of them are of considerable extent. The climate in some parts of those regions is exceedingly hot, and in others it is distinguished for its mildness and pleasant warmth. The islands abound in tropical fruits of all descriptions ; there are bananas, bread-fruit, cocoa-nuts, oranges, and a great variety of other kinds. The forests are of luxuriant growth, amidst the branches of which swarm numerous birds of many-coloured plumage. The scenery of many of these islands presents views of most tranquil loveliness. The waters teem with many varieties of excellent fish. The inhabitants of the islands are very numerous, and very similar to the Maoris in appearance, language, habits, and customs. The waters of the ocean, however,

abound in hidden reefs of rocks just below the surface, which, together with the sudden violent squalls which sometimes arise, render navigation difficult and dangerous. The inhabitants have little necessity for labour, and spend much of their time in sleeping beneath the shady groves of their beautiful woods. In the year 1789, about twenty years after Captain Cook first landed in New Zealand, a vessel belonging to the English Grovernment was sailing among the islands above described. She was called the "Bounty," and the name of her commander was Bligh—he had previously been sailing-master under Captain Cook. The "Bounty" was a vessel of 215 tons burden, with a crew of forty-six men, including every one on board. She had sailed from England in 1757, and had arrived at Tahiti in 178 S. The object of the voyage was to collect bread-fruit plants and other productions of Tahiti, for the purpose of introducing them to the islands of the "West Indies. The ship remained six months at Tahiti collecting the plants required. During that time the sailors were much on shore ; they joined with the natives in all their games and amusements, and the greatest cordiality existed between them. The chiefs were so much attached to the people of the ship that they encouraged their stay among them, and even made them promises of large possessions of land. The fair ladies of Tahiti, too, who are handsome and mild in their manners and conversation, did all in their power to entice their pakeha friends to remain with them. At length the period arrived for the ship to take her departure. The captain got his people on board, and, amidst the lamentations and leave-takings of the natives, the ship set sail from Tahiti on the 4th of April, 1759. Many of the crew were greatly affected and depressed at parting with their tender and devoted female companions. ' After the ship had been at sea some days, the sailors determined on seizing the vessel and returning to the scene of their pleasures. Accordingly, on the morning of the 28th of April, 1789, Captain Bligh was seized in his cabin by the mutineers, headed by Fletcher Christian, the master's mate, was bound with cords and forced into one of the ship's boats, with eighteen others, who had not joined in the mutiny, leaving twenty-five on board, exclusive of Christian—one having died at Tahiti. A cask of water, a small quantity of provisions, and a mariner's compass was put into the boat, and they were then east adrift on the ocean and left to their fate. After encountering unheard-of dangers, in the shape of storms, hunger, and savage natives upon some islands at which they touched, this boat with its crew, after traversing some 3,600 miles of ocean, arrived safely at Timor, a Dutch settlement in the East Indies. They eventually reached Englaud in March, 1790. Subsequently Captain Bligh was again sent to the South Pacific "Ocean, and succeeded in conveying the bread-fruit to the West Indies. He afterwards commanded several of England's powerful war ships, and was engaged in some of her great naval battles. In ISOS he was appointed Governor of New South Wales, and, returning to England, died in the midst of his family, in 1817, at the age of sixty-three. But to return to the mutineers. After they had sent the boat adrift, containing Bligh and those who adhered to him, they sailed to Toubouai, an island

lying some 500 miles south of Tahiti. They were not well received by the natives of this island, so they continued their course to Tahiti, and took up their residence there amongst their old friends. They had not, however, been living long on shore when a war ship named the " Pandora," which had been despatched from England in search of them, arrived at Tahiti. Fourteen of them were seized and put in irons, and two were killed. The "Pandora" was afterwards wrecked, and four of the prisoners were drowned in their irons. Ten were taken to England and tried, four of whom were acquitted, and six condemned to be hanged; two of the latter, however, were afterwards pardoned. Christian, and eight of his companions, had sailed from Tahiti in the " Bounty," with nine Tahitian women, six Tahitian men, three of whom had wives, and a little girl—twenty-eight in all. This explains why he was not apprehended with the others; he had escaped, and could not be found. They landed on a small island called Pitcairn's Island, situate some 4,000 miles in a nearly north-easterly direction from New Zealand. It was covered with trees and uninhabited; although it had been previously inhabited, as was shown by a deposit of human bones and weapons. They took everything on shore out of the "Bounty" which they thought might be of use to them on the island, and then beached the vessel and set her on fire. Erom this time (1790) nothing was heard of Christian and his piratical crew for a period of twenty years. At the expiration of that time an American ship, named the " Topaz," by mere chance touched at the island, and found there an Englishman, the only survivor of the nine that escaped in the "Bounty." There were also some grown-up men and women, children of the mutineers, on the island, the whole population amounting to thirty-five. This information was transmitted to the English Government in 1809. No steps were taken at that time, however, the Government being probably too much occupied in the events of the war with Erance which then raged. In the year 1814 two English frigates, the "Briton" and the " Tagus," cruising in the Pacific, approached the rocky shores of the island, not knowing it to be Pitcairn's Island, which had been erroneously laid down in the charts. On nearing the island they perceived some huts on shore, amid plantations neatly laid out. Presently they perceived a few natives coming down a steep descent with a canoe on their shoulders, and in a few minutes perceived one of these little vessels darting through a heavy surf, and paddling off towards the ships; but their astonishment was extreme, when the canoe came alongside, at being hailed in the English language with " Won't you heave us a rope, now ?" A young man sprung, with extraordinary alacrity, up the side, and stood before them on the deck. On being asked the question, "Who are you?" he said his name was Thursday October Christian, son of the late Eletcher Christian by a Tahitian mother; that he was the firstborn on the island, and that he was so called because he was brought into the world on a Thursday in October. He was fully acquainted with the history of the " Bounty," and stated that the island before them was the retreat of the mutineers

of that ship. He was about twenty-four years of age, fully six feet high, with hair nearly black, and a countenance open and extremely [interesting. He wore no clothes except a piece of cloth round bis loins, and a straw hat ornamented with black cock's feathers. He spoke English with great fluency and correct pronunciation. His companion was a fine handsome youth of seventeen or eighteen years of age, of the name of George Young, son of Young, a midshipman of the "Bounty." On taking them below and offering them something to eat, the captain was surprised to see that they did not partake of it until they had said grace. The youths themselves were greatly surprised at the sight of so many novel objects—the size of the ship—of the guns, and everything they saw around them. Observing a cow on board they took it to be a buge goat—that animal and pigs being the only two species of quadrupeds they had over seen. A little do°amused them much. "Oh what a pretty little thing it is!" exclaimed Young. " I know it is a dog, for I have heard of such an animal." The young men informed the two captains that an old man was on shore, whose name, they said, was John Adams, the only surviving Englishman that came away in the " Bounty," at which time he was called Alexander Smith. This information induced the two captains to go on shore. The landing they found to be difficult and dangerous; but with the assistance of their two able conductors they passed the surf among many rocks, and reached the shore without any other inconvenience than a complete wetting. Old Adams met them on the beach, and was at first considerably alarmed. They assured him, however, that they had no intention of taking him prisoner. They now learned from Adams that Fletcher Christian, on finding no good anchorage close to tho island, ran the "Bounty" on shore and ordered her to be burnt, with the view probably of preventing any escape from the island, and also to remove an object which, if seen by any passing vessel, might be the means of discovering his retreat. For a time everything went on smoothly. At length jealousies and quarrels arose among them. The Tahitian men planned the murder of the whites, to whom the plot was revealed by the women. Other strifes followed, and Christian and four of the English were murdered in 1793, and Adams was severely wounded. In the same year all the Tahitian men were murdered. This state of ferocity became so frightful to the women that they determined to leave the island in a body, but were prevented by the upsetting of a boat on its lauuching. Two of the Englishmen succeeded in producing an intoxicating liquor from the ti-tree root, and one of them in a fit of intoxication flung himself from the rocks and was drowned. The other, after threatening the lives of his companions, was killed with an axe by Young and Adams, in self-defence. Young died of asthma in 1799. Only two of the fifteen who landed from the "Bounty" died a natural death.

This interesting little colony was now found to contain about forty-six persons, mostly grown-up young people with infants, all living in the fear of God and in "peace and good-will" with each other. In the year 1800 Adams was the only man left on the island. In ten years after he had two dreams, in which he thought the Angel Gabriel appeared to

him, bringing before him the terrors of future judgment for his transgressions. These dreams made him a Christian and a missionary. From that period he taught the children around him to begin and close every day with prayer. He possessed a bible and a prayer-book, which he had preserved from the stores of the « Bounty." The visitors having supplied the islanders with some tools, kettles, and other articles, took their leave of them and sailed away. > Nothing more was heard of Adams and his family till the year 1825, when Captain Beechey, in the "Blossom," paid a visit to the island. In the meantime, however, a whale-fishing ship had touched there and left on the island a person of the name of John Buffet. Thisman was of a devout and serious turn of mind, and in him the islanders found an able and willing schoolmaster. He became their clergyman, and the oracle of the community. Captain Beechey remained there a few days, and on his return testified warmly in favour of their industry, propriety of manners, and good conduct. They always had Divine worship on the Sabbath-day, and the rest of the day was devoted to prayer, reading, and serious things. No boat was allowed to quit the shore, nor any work done; and their food was always prepared on the preceding Saturday evening. They had a sermon read, and concluded the service with a hymn. They always said " grace" before meals. In consequence of Captain Beechey's representations, the British Government sent out a quantity of clothing, and a number of tools and other articles, for the use of the islanders, which they received in March, 1830. Adams died in March, 1829, at the age of sixty-eight years, leaving a happy generation behind him, brought up in principles of social activity and personal virtue. Pitcairn's Island contains about 2,560 acres of land, but a ridge of rocky hills runs through it from north to south, having two peaks exceeding 1,000 feet in height. Probably not one half of it is fit for cultivation. In consequence of this, in the year 1855, the British Government removed the whole population, numbering 194 souls, to Norfolk Island. This is a beautiful island, situate some 500 miles northwest of New Zealand. It is about five miles long and two miles broad, which gives an area of 6,400 acres. They are under the protection of the English Government, and have the island entirely to themselves and their teachers and ministers. They have been instructed in the use of the plough, and have been taught various trades and industries. Some of them are tolerably expert carpenters, blacksmiths, &c.