umference, with an abrupt rocky
coast. I believe the reason there are so few persons on the island,
is accounted for by the dismal fate of the original settlers. The
sailors had married Otaheitan women, whose brothers in one night
murdered them, only one escaping, whose name was Adams. On the
following night, the Otaheitan widows of the English inflicted
dreadful vengeance, by murdering all their brothers who had
committed the first frightful deed. Their children grew up under the
fostering care of Adams, who officiated as a sort of patriarch. The
present population comprises about eighty individuals, who form an
interesting link between the European and Polynesian races."

MR. WILTON. "In a Bermuda paper of August, 1848, there is an
interesting letter from a school-master named Nobbs, which is so
replete with information, that I will read it all to you, as it is
not so remarkable for its length as its interest:--

"More than twenty years ago, I left England for the express purpose
of visiting Pitcairn's Island, and to remain there if I could render
my talents available to the inhabitants. The proprietor of a small
vessel of but eighteen tons' burthen, hearing me express my anxiety
to obtain a passage to Pitcairn's Island, remarked, it was a spot he
had long desired to visit, and if I would assist him in fitting out
his vessel, he would go with me. I accepted his proposal advanced
him what money I could command, and embarked from Callao de Lima,
with no other person than the owner of the little cutter; and in six
weeks arrived here (Pitcairn's Island) in safety.

"'Five months after my arrival, John Adams departed this life. After
his decease, the superintendence of the spiritual affairs of the
island, and the education of the children, devolved on me chiefly;
and from that time to the present (with the exception of ten months,
during which period I was banished from the island by brute force,
and recalled by letters of penitential apology), I have been with
them, and have lived to see the labor of my hands prosper; for there
is not a person on the island, between the ages of six years and
twenty-five, who has not received, or is not receiving, a tolerable
education.

"'There is one untoward but prominent object on the horizon of
paternal affection, and which, though imperceptibly, yet rapidly
approaches our increasing colony, and that is the imperious
necessity of a separation; for so very limited are the availabl