Page:Littell's Living Age - Volume 127.djvu/777

Rh best to do. Norfolk Island, near Australia, had for some time been used as a sort of prison or penal settlement for the more desperate among the convicts; it had not turned out satisfactorily; and the government conceived the idea of transferring the Pitcairners to that place as their further home. Accordingly, Sir William Denison, governor of New South Wales, took the subject into consideration, and decided that the removal might possibly be effected in 1854. The Pitcairners, now increased by the addition of grandchildren and great-grandchildren to a total of a hundred and seventy persons, expressed pleasure and thankfulness when they heard of the plan. The end was not yet, however; governments moved more slowly than the simple Pitcairners expected.

A pleasant picture of this deeply interesting people was presented in 1855, when Captain Fremantle, in H.M.S. "Juno," touched at the island, to ascertain how far unity of opinion and wish prevailed among the islanders. The Rev. Mr. Nobbs, their pastor and schoolmaster (a few "outsiders" had reached them by this time), assembled them together, and read to them a description of Norfolk Island, and the terms of the queen's offer. A large majority at once assented to the proposal; but some could not find heart to quit the only home they had ever known, albeit barely a mile in length. George Adams, a son of John Adams the mutineer, was among these. They were sensible of the queen's kindness; they well knew that any further subdivision of the land of their tiny island would reduce the portion for each household or family to a mere patch scarcely worth cultivating; but still they were loath to leave "home," and make a perilous voyage over thousands of miles of ocean. At length, one hundred and fifty-three, out of a total of a hundred and eighty-seven souls, decided on Norfolk Island. Captain Fremantle found them to be so affectionately attached one to another, that he believed they would all join when the time of departure arrived. He described them as a pious, unsophisticated, single-minded, cheerful, docile people; his crew were never tired of rendering them little kindnesses, which the islanders returned in their own artless way. Whether at Pitcairn Island or Norfolk Island, they were delighted at the idea of being recognized subjects of Queen Victoria.

In 1856 Sir William Denison chartered the ship "Morayshire," to convey the descendants of the mutineers to Norfolk Island. Lieutenant Gregorie, R.N., managed the enterprise. He arrived at Pitcairn on 22d April, and found that the islanders had provided themselves with good store of sheets and packing-cases, in readiness for the grand flitting. All, though some of them unwillingly, had decided to go. They packed up everything likely to be useful, with a stock of swine, fowls, and fresh vegetables; leaving a few head of live-stock to multiply as they might.

It was a scene without parallel when, on 3d May, the islanders departed from Pitcairn; without parallel, for though the number was small, no community had ever before been reared under such remarkable circumstances. Sixty-six years after the mutineers of the "Bounty" first landed on the island, their descendants quitted it. The simple-hearted people were troubled with some of the miseries of a long ocean-voyage; but they kept up cheerfully, the men and boys helping the sailors in any way that might be useful, the women and girls engaging in needlework and domestic duties. An infant was born during this remarkable voyage; and the little stranger received the names of Reuben Denison Christian. (The little community had only a dim knowledge of the fact, that Lieutenant Christian, grandfather or great-grandfather of this child, had been a lawless mutineer.) They only sighted one island during the voyage; it caused great excitement among the Pitcairners, being the first strange land the greater part of them had ever beheld. With the crew they were on excellent terms throughout, and harmony was never once disturbed.

After a voyage extending over sixty-three degrees of longitude, the "Moray-shire" arrived at its place of destination. What the Pitcairners felt at such an exciting time, we can hardly conceive in our present English mode of life: hopes, fears, wonderment, regrets followed in rapid succession, as the shores of Norfolk Island came into view; and the people speculated whether Queen Victoria thought of them as anxiously as they thought of her. One hundred and ninety-four, (including the "little stranger") landed on the 8th of June. The government had set aside such buildings and store-sheds as might be immediately needed, leaving the people to provide better at leisure. Dr. Selwyn, bishop of New Zealand, paid them three or four friendly visits, taking such seeds and plants as might be useful to them; and Mrs. Selwyn stopped with them many