70
CH A P . his most sanguine e,xpectations. He, nevertheless, had an arduous task
to perform. Besides the children to be educated, the Otaheitan women
were to be converted; and as the example of the parents had a powerful
influence over their children, he resolved to make them his first
care. Here also his labours succeeded; the Otaheitans were naturally
of a tractable disposition, and gave him less trouble than he anticipated;
the children also acquired such a thirst after scriptural knowledge, that
Adams in a short time had little else to do than to answer their inquiries
and put them in the right way. As they grew up they acquired
fixed habits of morality and piety ; their colony improved; intermarriages
occurred; and they now form a happy and well-regulated
society, the merit of which in a great degree belongs to Adams, and
tends to redeem the former errors of his life.
CHAPTER IV.
Bounty Bay—Observatory landed—Manners, Customs, Occupations, Amusements, &c. of
the Natives—Village—Description of the Island—Its Produce—Marriage of Adams
—Barge hoisted out—Departure—General Description.
H a v i n g detailed the particulars o f the mutiny in the Bounty, and CHAP.
the fate of the most notorious of the ring-leaders, and having brought ,
the history of Pitcairn Island down to the present period, I shall return
to the party who had assembled on board the ship to greet us on our
arrival.
The Blossom was so different, or to use the expression of our
visiters, “ so rich,” compared with the other ships they had seen*, that
they were constantly afraid of giving offence or committing some injury,
and would not even move without first asking permission. This diffidence
gave us full occupation for some time, as our restless visiters,
anxious to see every thing, seldom directed their attention long to any
particular object, or remained in one position or place. Having no
latches to their doors, they w’ere ignorant of the manner of opening
ours; and we were consequently attacked on all sides with “ please
may I sit down or get up, or go out of the cabin,” or “ please to open
or shut the door.” Their applications were, however, made with such
good nature and simplicity that it was impossible not to feel the greatest
pleasure in paying attention to them. They very soon learnt the
Christian name of every officer in the ship, which they always used in conversation
instead of the surname, and wherever a similarity to their own
occurred, they attached themselves to that person as a matter of course.
It W’as many hours after they came on board before the ship
could get near the island, during which time they so ingratiated
* I t was so long since the visit of the Briton and Tagus that they had forgotten their
appearance.
A