The little colony had been joined before that time by a seaman from a whaling ship, named John Buffet, who deliberately settled there and constituted himself chaplain and schoolmaster. He certainly contributed a good deal in course of time to the education and good morals of this colony of handsome half-breeds, a colony which was from time to time visited by British war vessels.
As to Christian, it was at first said that he had committed suicide soon after arriving at Pitcairn Island, but the true story was that he was killed by one of the Tahitians. But he left behind him a son who grew up to be a handsome young fellow, and greatly astonished the naval officers whose ship visited Pitcairn in 1814 by coming off in Tahitian undress and saying in excellent English: "Won't you heave us a rope, now?" He then sprang with alacrity up the side of the ship and said, in reply to the question "Who are you?": "My name is Thursday October Christian." He was fully 6 feet high, with almost black hair, a handsome face, and wearing no clothes except a straw hat and a piece of cloth round his waist. His manner of speaking English was exceedingly correct both in grammar and pronunciation, and he was accompanied by a fine handsome youth of seventeen or eighteen, who called himself George Young, who was the son of one of the midshipmen of the Bounty.
Pitcairn was named after a midshipman in the ship of Captain Philip Carteret, who first sighted the island in 1767. It rises to 2000 feet in height, and its area is only 2 square miles. It is 100 miles from the nearest island of the Paumotu group. It possesses the remains of carved stone pillars similar to those of Easter Island, together with stone axes, showing that at a remote period it was inhabited. When first discovered its surface was clothed with rich forest, the soil was very fertile, but the coast was rock-bound and dangerous of approach.
There were no springs or streams in Pitcairn Island, and when the forest began to be cut down by the settlers the rainfall decreased and there was a scarcity of water. An attempt was made by the mutineers' descendants to return to Tahiti in 1830, but it was given up, and the Pitcairn Islanders continued to inhabit the little island until 1856, when the whole of them—by this time 194 in number—were landed on Norfolk Island, between New Zealand and New Caledonia. There most of their descendants live to this day. But in 1858 two families of these handsome hybrid people returned to Pitcairn, which now has a population of 170, who no longer speak English but an extraordinary mixture of Polynesian and English. They have also a good deal degenerated from the high standard of morality which was maintained in earlier days.
CAPTAIN BLIGH AND HIS MEN SEARCHING FOR OYSTERS OFF THE GREAT BARRIER REEF
As to Bligh, he was sent back to Tahiti in command of the Providence in 1791, and promptly obtained another supply of bread-fruit plants which he conveyed safely to Jamaica, thus introducing the bread-fruit tree into the West Indies. After distinguishing himself markedly in the British naval service he was appointed Governor of New South Wales in 1805, but became so intensely disliked there by the violence of his temper and his arbitrary acts that another mutiny arose against him headed by the principal military officer. Bligh was kept in prison by the mutineers for two years, but returned to England in 1811, where he was promoted to be an admiral. He died in London in 1817.