once more put to sea, and reached Matavai on the 20th of September, 1789. Here sixteen of the twenty-five desired to be landed, fourteen of whom, as already mentioned, were taken on board the Pandora; of the other two, as reported by Colman (the first who surrendered himself to Captain Edwards) one had been made a chief, killed his companion, and was shortly afterwards murdered himself by the natives.

Christian, with the remaining eight of the mutineers, having taken on board several of the natives of Otaheite, the greater part women, put to sea on the night between the 21st and 22d September, 1789; in the morning the ship was discovered from Point Venus, steering in a north-westward direction; and here terminate the accounts given by the mutineers who were either taken or surrendered themselves at Matavai Bay. They stated, however, that Christian, on the night of his departure, was heard to declare, that he would seek for some uninhabited island, and, having established his party there, break up the ship; but all the endeavours of Captain Edwards to gain intelligence either of the ship or her crew at any of the numerous islands visited by the Pandora, failed.

From this period, no information respecting Christian or his companions reached England for twenty years; when, about the beginning of the year 1809, Sir Sidney Smith, then commander in chief on the Brazil station, transmitted to the Admiralty a paper which he had received from Lieutenant Fitzmaurice, purporting to be an "Extract from the log book of Captain Folger, of the American ship Topaz," and dated Valparaiso, 10th October, 1808. This extract contains a short account of the conduct and fate of the mutineers who left Otaheite under the command of Christian. It states that they had proceeded to a small desolate island in the Pacific Ocean, called Pitcairn's Island, where they settled, and seemed to have some prospect of ease and security. Their hopes of happiness were, however, but short-lived; for all of them but one named Alexander Smith, were murdered by the Otaheitans. The extract contains many other most interesting facts: but these are so much more fully described in a letter, written by the same Captain Folger to the Lords of the Admiralty, that it appears better to give the following complete copy of this letter to the reader. It was received about the commencement of the year 1916, by Rear Admi

ral Hotham, when cruizing off New London, together with the Azimuth compass to which

it refers:

'MY LORDS,

Nantucket, 1st March, 1813.

'The remarkable circumstance which took place on my last voyage to the Pacific Ocean, will, I trust, plead my apology for addressing your Lordships at this time. In February, 1808, I touched at Pitcairn's island, in lati tude 25 deg. 20 men. S. and longitude 130 deg. W. from Greenwich. My principal object was to procure seal skins for the China market; and from the account given of the island, in captain Carteret's voyage, I supposed it was uninhabited; but on approaching the shore in my boat, I was met by three young men in a double canoe, with a present consisting of some fruit and a hog. They spoke to me in the English language, and informed me that they were born on the island, and their father was an Englishman, who had sailed with Captain Bligh.

After discoursing with them a short time, I landed with them, and found an Englishman of the name of Alexander Smith, who informed

me that he was one of the Bounty's crew, and that after putting Captain Bligh in the boat, with half the ship's company, they returned to Otaheite, where part of the crew chose to tarry, but Mr. Christian, with eight others, including himself, preferred going to a more remote place; and after making a short stay at Otaheite, where they took wives, and six men servants, they proceeded to Pitcairn's, island, where they destroyed the ship, after taking every thing out of her, which they thought would be useful to them. About six years after they landed at this place, their servants attacked and killed all the English, excepting the informant, and he was severely wounded.The same night, the Otaheitan widows arose and murdered all their countrymen, leaving Smith with the widows and children, where he has resided ever since without being resisted.

I remained but a short time on the island, and on leaving it, Smith presented me a time-piece, and an azimuth compass, which he told me belonged to the Bounty. The timepiece was taken from me by the governor of the island of Juan Fernandez, after I had had it in my possession about six months. The compass I put in repair on board my ship, and made use of it in my homeward passage, since

which a new card has been put to it by an instrument maker in Boston. I now forward it to your Lordships, thinking there will be a kind of satis faction in receiving it, merely from the extraor.. dinary circumstances attending it.

(Signed)

'MAYHEW FOLGER.'

Nearly about the same time a further account of these interesting people was received from Vice-Admiral Dixon, in a letter addressed to him by Sir Thomas Staines, of his Majesty's ship Briton, of which the following is a copy:

I have the honour to inform you that, on my passage from the Marquesas Islands to this port, on the morning of the 17th September, I fell in with an island where none is laid down in the Admiralty or other charts, according to the several chronometers of the Briton and Tagus. I therefore hove-to, until day-light, and then closed to ascertain whether it was inhabited, which I soon discovered it to be, and, to my great astonishment, found that every individual on the island, (forty in number)