"Mr. Nobbs's House, Norfolk Island, "July 5th, 1856. "I know you will feel interested in receiving a note written from among the Pitcairners in Norfolk Island. Yesterday we sailed up to the island, saw no signs of people being on it, and thought they were not yet come; but at 4 P.M. a boat came off through the swell, manned by six men. As they neared us we saw they were not English,-too dark coloured. They came up, jumped on deck, and we shook hands heartily. Familiar names,-John Quintal, Frederick Young, John Nobbs (son of the clergyman), &c. "The Bishop and Mrs. Selwyn, intending to come. ashore to-day, sent me off with them. I landed at 4.30-the Pitcairners working their boat through the surf admirably—met Mr. Nobbs and family, and plenty of men and women, thirty families, sixty married. people, and 134 children and young men and women in all. I had tea at Mr. Nobbs's house, and afterwards asked to hear some of the young people sing, which they did beautifully, in parts; about twenty-four came to his house, and sang, for two hours and a half, psalms, hymns, and ended with 'God save the Queen,' admirably sung. The simple, modest, and manly behaviour, the gentle look of all, men and women, everything about them quite confirms all that I had read. I enjoyed the evening exceedingly. "The settlement at the s.E. corner of Norfolk Island contains eighteen or twenty houses of brick, with verandahs, nice gardens, and paddocks, and plenty of good grass for cows and sheep; there is, besides, a large building formerly the barracks. The men are darker than Italians; as dark as some of the lighter coloured Maories occasionally, but no shade of black,-it is more of the bright copper colour. The women are scarcely distinguishable from English women, and most of the young women are nice looking. They seem to marry early, about twenty years of age for the men, early,—about and eighteen for the women—and there are but eight or nine surnames in the island. They seem a fine healthy race of people in all respects. The men wear shirts, serge jerseys, and a sailor costume in general, many without shoes or socks; the women are chiefly dressed in loose kind of robes, all modest and quiet, but without any appearance of fear,-just the kind of simple easy manners you would expect. The village is very pretty, but they find it cold after Pitcairn's Isle. Norfolk Island pines, geraniums, other flowers, and semitropical plants grow around the houses, and behind them the ground ascends sharply to a height of about 100 feet, the whole island undulating ground, and full of valleys, gullies, &c. Mr. Nobbs gave me two nails made by the Pitcairners out of an iron bolt from the Bounty.' I gave them an 80 lb. chest of tea, which cost only 90s. in Sydney, and the best tea procurable there. "They all have the dress of poor people, with the feelings of those gentle-born and nurtured. Two of John Adams's daughters, the oldest people on the island, are really magnificent women, like queens; old Hannah, with long black hair flowing almost to her waist, though sixty-five years old. John Adams gave me a hymn for Good Friday, composed and written by his grandfather, John Adams, the mutineer; an interesting relic." Mrs. Selwyn remained in the island while the Bishop and his chaplain pursued their missionary labours. She makes the following interesting observations with regard to the people among whom she sojourned. "It was settled the next day, upon the people seconding the proposal, that I should remain, with a warm invitation,-that I was to be left while the 'Southern Cross' goes on to Melanesia into the hot latitudes. A special object was the preparation of the young people under Mr. Nobbs's direction for confirmation, besides the daily school, which was soon to be recommenced. Other ways of usefulness were before any one who should be competent to put the women in the way of using all their novelties, and to bring them on in orderly household ways, which tell so much upon the character of a community. A methodical housewife, learned in all matters of domestic economy, would be invaluable to the women at this fresh start, but I hardly felt equal to the occasion. However, so it was to be, and the Southern Cross' was to sail upon the morrow. The Bishop walked over the island then, with some others, but all in seven-leagued boots, which prevented my joining them, and admiring with them the pretty little island, with its wonderful vegetation. There is no great variety of wood; the pine is universal and rather wearisome when unmixed with other trees. Lemons also are in abundance, and in the valleys 6 the tree-fern adds much to the beauty of the "When the Pitcairners first came to Norfolk Island they were received by a select body of the former staff, who had been left in charge of the property, and partly to instruct the new comers in the use of it. A flock of sheep, a herd of cattle, ploughs, teams, and carts were made over to them accordingly. Each selected his pursuit. Some took to the sheep, some to butchering, some to farming, some to the dairy. Gardening was not included, and as they do not seem to have notions themselves beyond a yam plantation or a potato ground (how should they?), the gardens, formerly the glory of this island, began to look most deplorable. As yet,. however, they hardly look at home in their new abodes, and perhaps being an out-of-door generation, and not very sensitive about appearances, they never will. The houses are detached, nearly all of stone; the vestibule opens into four dark and nearly empty rooms, whose chief furniture is neat beds covered with tapa, and the store of children who sleep in the same. Every one, young and old, gives you a peculiarly pleasant greeting if he meets you, and the heartiest welcome into the house. Towards evening the preparation for the great evening meal is going on,-a serious affair, for they have but two in the day, and at this more beef is consumed than a labouring man in Devonshire sees in his house from year's end to year's end. Still, the elderly people are to be pitied a little in the change they have made-the women especially; they miss 1 'Island Mission,' p. 100. Extract from the 'Melanesian Mission.' |