everywhere annexing countries which other colonizing nations have rejected, are rapidly occupying all the Polynesian groups, except the only ones that are of value, namely, the Sandwich Islands and New Zealand, Pitcairn becomes of some importance as a solitary British post on the very border of the French dominions; and it has for us the stronger claim to notice, which is raised by the fact that it has figured for the last few years on the wrong side of our British budget.

"As we stood out from the bay into the lonely seas, the island peak showed a black outline against a pale-green sky; but in the west the heavy clouds that in the Pacific never fail to cumber the horizon, were glowing with a crimson cast by the now set sun, and the dancing wavelets were tinted with reflected hues."

The latest letter from Pitcairn is to Admiral Sir Fairfax Moresby, G.C.B., from John Buffett. He went to pay a visit to his daughter, Mrs. Young, who had returned there with her husband and family, and had been a year in Pitcairn, unable to find a ship to convey him to Auckland in order to return to Norfolk Island. This letter, which contains the following extract, is dated Pitcairn Island, July 27th, 1869:

"The last merchant-ship touched here last August, and a whaler last February, so that they are very short of clothing, and will, I suppose, have to go back to native cloth; in fact, several ladies wear the native skirt now. Mr. Simon Young is school-master and pastor, and attends well to those duties. He also teaches singing without any remuneration. We ought to be very thankful that we are blessed with health, as we have no medicine on the island; meat is scarce, so are fish. We have some sheep and goats, no cattle; and the hogs are diseased. There has been a failure with the yam crops, so that our principal food is sweet-potatoes and plantains. Oranges are plentiful, and bananas, pine-apples, etc., so that we make

out pretty well in the eating line. Moses Young is magistrate this year, but there are not many law cases. Most of them would rather be on Norfolk Island than here."

With this notice of the re-colonization and present state of Pitcairn Island our narrative ends.

We have traced the history of the little community through a period of eighty-three years, from its first origin in tyranny and crime, through a chain of strange and tragical events, to its final settlement in peace and prosperity. A few of the families who composed it have separated from their brethren, and returned to their "Rock in the West;" but the traditions of Pitcairn and of the colony in Norfolk Island are the same; and the early training of John Adams laid the foundation of such Christian principles among them, that the errors and crimes of "The Mutineers of the Bounty" are forgotten in the exemplary conduct of their descendants.

APPENDIX A.

WE have already alluded* to the following letter, written at the request of Rear-admiral Moresby, and relating the sixteen years of Mr. Nobbs's history, previous to his arrival at Pitcairn. Although very interesting, it has no bearing on the affairs of the islanders, and is therefore placed in the Appendix. The letter runs as follows:

TO REAR-ADMIRAL FAIRFAX MORESBY, G.C.B.

"H.M.S. Portland, at Sea, May, 1853.

"MY HONORABLE and BenevOLENT FRIEND,-In accordance with your expressed desire that I should furnish you with the data of sixteen years of my somewhat eventful life, I submit for your perusal the following superficial, but, as far as memory serves, correct, account of my whereabouts from 1812 to October, 1828.

"November, 1811, I entered the navy, by being placed on the books of H.M.S. Roebuck, through the interest of Rear-admiral Murray. Transferred first to the Chanticleer, then to the Snipe-where I remained until the news of the loss of the Hero in the North Sea-I was then for certain reasons withdrawn from the service; but in 1813 Admiral Murray placed me on board the Indefatigable, a naval store-ship, commanded by a master in the navy named Bowles, and I went in her under the convoy of the Duncan to New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land. From New South Wales we had orders to proceed by Bass's Straits to the Cape of Good Hope, but after a vain attempt to beat through the Straits we took a fresh departure from New South Wales, shaped our course for Cape Horn, and from thence across to the Cape of Good Hope, thence to St. Helena, and ultimately to England. I now left the navy, and after residing at home a few months, received a letter from my old commander, offering to procure me a berth on board a ship of eighteen guns, design

* Page 238.

ed for the use of the patriots in South America. I accepted the offer, and left England early in 1816 for Valparaiso; but we were prevented entering, from the circumstance of the royalists having regained possession of that place. We accordingly commenced cruising along the coast in search of prizes, although I am not quite certain that our liberal commission had the signature of any patriot chieftain except Artigos, a Buenos Ayrean leader of some note at that period. Our cruise, which extended over sixteen months, was very successful; but having no port to take our prizes into, we were obliged to destroy them, so that our emoluments were not great. During this cruise, while in charge of a prize, I was captured by a Spanish Guarda Costa, and carried into Callao. Oh, what rejoicing was there! The insurgents, doubly ironed, and guarded by nearly a hundred soldiers, were exposed to the gaze and insult of some thousands, who kept holiday on the occasion. Walking about Callao streets for months with fifty pounds' weight of iron attached to one's person, and a spare diet of beans and Chili peppers, with a stone for a pillow at night, was far from being an agreeable situation. However, custom reconciled us in some degree, and after losing some five or six of our party of seventeen by fever and exposure to the sun while carrying stones to repair the forts, our guardians became more remiss, we got rid of our irons by degrees, and ultimately were left to shift for ourselves, procure food when and where we could, and roam about the town almost unnoticed, sometimes feasting, but more often fasting. Several weeks passed away, when a sailing vessel, called the Flying-fish, of New Bedford, anchored in Callao Bay. As I was under no surveillance, I introduced myself to Captain Fisk, her commander, whom I had frequently fallen in with previous to my capture. He immediately agreed to secrete me if I could get on board his ship, and as many of my crew as could make their escape; and moreover, as he was going to the Galapagos Islands, which was the appointed rendezvous of our ship, he would convey us thither on condition of receiving one hundred dollars for each person taken on board, to be paid on falling in with our ship. Eight of us made our escape, and four days after we ran into Tumbey, where our ship was lying. No doubt our American benefactor was aware of this when he received us on board. After cruising along the coast of Peru for some months, with various success, we went off to the Galapagos Islands, where we remained seven or eight weeks, and then resumed our cruising between those islands and Panama.

"In the latter part of 1817 we entered Valparaiso, and were well received by the authorities, who professed themselves staunch patriots. I