VOYAGE TO THE
■«’as consequently almost the last to greet us. He was in his sixty-fifth
year, and was unusually strong and active for his age, notwithstanding
the inconvenience of considerable corpulency. He was dressed in a
sailor’s shirt and trousers and a low-crowned hat, which he instinctively
held in his hand until desired to put it on. He still retained his
sailor’s gait, doffing his hat and smoothing down his bald forehead
whenever he was addressed by the officers.
It was the first time he had been on board a ship of war since the
mutiny, and his mind naturally reverted to scenes that coidd not fail to
produce a temporary embarrassment, heightened, perhaps, by the fami-
liai'ity with which he found himself addressed by persons of a class with
those whom he had been accustomed to obey. Apprehension for his
safety formed no part of his thoughts: he had received too many demonstrations
of the good feeling that existed towards him, both on the
part of the British government and of individuals, to entertain any
alarm on that head; and as every person endeavoured to set his mind
at rest, he very soon made himself at home *.
The young men, ten in number, were tall, robust, and healthy,
with good-natured countenances, which would any where have procured
them a friendly reception; and with a simplicity of manner and
a fear of doing wTong w'hich at once prevented the possibility of giving
offence. Unacquainted with the world, they asked a number of questions
which would have applied better to persons w ith whom they had been
intimate, and who had left them but a short time before, than to perfect
strangers; and inquired after ships and people we had never heard
o f Their dress, made up of the presents which had been given them
by the masters and seamen of merchant ships, was a perfect caricature.
Some had on long black coats without any other article of dress except
trousers, some shirts without coats, and others waistcoats without
either; none had shoes or stockings, and only two possessed hats,
neither of which seemed likely to hang long together.
They were as anxious to gratify their curiosity about the decks, as
we were to learn from them the state of the colony, and the particulars
» Since the MS. of this narrative was sent to press, intelligence of Adams’ death has-
been communicated to me by our Consul at the Sandwich Islands.