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most probably dreading a discovery , this deluded youth committed himself and his remaining confederates to the mere chance of being cast upon some desert island , and chance threw them ou that of Pitcairn . Finding no
anchorage near it he ran the ship upon the rocks , cleared her of the live stock and other articles which they had been supplied with at Otaheite , when he set her on fire , that no trace of inhabitants might be visible , and all hopes of escape cut off from himself and his wretched followers . He
soon however disgusted both his own countrymen and the Otaheitans , by his oppressive and tyrannical conduct ; they divided into parties , and disputes and affrays and murders were the consequence . His Otaheitan wife died within a twelvemonth from their
landing ; after which he carried oft one that belonged to an Otaheitan man , who watched for an opportunity of taking his revenge , and shot him dead while digging in his own field . Thus terminated the miserable existence of this deluded young man , who was neither deficient in talent
nor energy , nor in connexions j and who might have risen in the service and become an ornament to his profession . John Adams declared , as it was natural enough he should do , his abhorrence of the crime in which he was
implicated , and said that he was sick at the time in his hammock ; this , we understand , is not true , though he was not particularly active in the mutiny : he expressed the utmost willingness to surrender himself and be taken to England ; indeed he rather seemed to have an inclination to re-visit
his native country , but the young men arid women flocked round him , and with tears and intreaties begged that their father and protector might not be taken from them , for without him they must all perish . It would have been an act of the greatest inhumanity to have removed him from the island
and it is hardly necessary to add , that Sir Thomas Staines lent a willing ear to their intreaties ; thinking , no doubt , as we feel strongly disposed to think , that if he were even among the most guilty , his care and success in iustiUjng religious and moral principles into the minds of this young and interesting society , have , in a "great degree , re-
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deemed his former crimes . This island is about six miles long by three broad , covered with wood , and the soil of course very rich : situated under the parallel of 25 ° S . latitude , and in the midst of such a
wide expanse of ocean , the climate must be fine , and admirably adapted for the reception of all the vegetable productions of every part of the habitable globe . Small , therefore , as Pitcairn * s Island may appear , there can be little doubt that it is capable
of supporting many inhabitants - and the present stock being of so good a description , we trust they will not be neglected . In the course of time the patriarch must go hence } and we think it would be exceedingly desirable that the British nation should
provide for such an event by sending out , not an ignorant and idle evangelical missionary , but some zealous and intelligent instructor , together with a few persons capable of teaching the useful trades or professions . On Pitcairn ' s Island there are better
materials to work upon than missionaries have yet been so fortunate as to meet with , and the best results may reasonably be expected . Something we are bound to dp for these blameless and interesting people . The articles recommended by Captain
Pipon appear to be highly proper ;— - cooking utensils , implements of agriculture , maize or the Indian corn , the orange tree from Valparaiso , a most grateful fruit in a warm climate , and not known in the Pacific Islands ;
and that root of plenty , ( not of poverty , as a wretched scribbler has called it ) the potatoe ; Bibles , Prayer Books , and a proper selection of other books , with paper , and other implements of writing . The visitors supplied them with some tools * kettles , and other
articles , such as the high surf would permit them to land , but to no great extent ; many things are still wapting for their ease and comfort . The descendants of these people , by keeping up the Otaheitan language , which the present race speak fluently , might be the
means of civilizing the multitudes of fine people scattered over the innumerable islands of the Great Pacific . We have only to add , that Pitcairn ' s Island seems to be so fortified by nature as to oppose an invincible barrier to an invading enemy 9 there io no
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6 Account of the Mutineers in the Bounty , 1789 .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1816, page 6, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2448/page/6/
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