CHAPTER XII.
A GOODLY HERITAGE
NORFOLK ISLAND, henceforth to become the home of the Pitcairn islanders, possesses remarkable beauty. Having all their lives been accustomed to wooden houses of the plainest description, roofed with thatch, and standing here and there embosomed amid trees, the sight of regularly laid out streets and stone-built houses was an entirely new experience to the new settlers. When they took possession of their present home, all the dwelling houses, as well as the government buildings, were in a good state of preservation, and some of the latter were splendid structures.
The government house occupied a conspicuous place on a slight eminence nearly in the center of the town, and its spacious apartments, as well as its exterior, were well kept. The large garden adjoining showed signs of former care, but everything had been allowed to run wild, and the grapevines mingled in happy confusion with the honeysuckle, nasturtium, and other flowering creepers.
Inclosed within high stone walls were the buildings of the old and new barracks, while near to the latter stood the ruins of what had been a fine hospital, which a fire had destroyed. Next to this, but separated by a wall, was the handsome commissariat store—now the church of the present inhabitants.
The large, gloomy prison was the central figure in a group of buildings that stood near the sea, having the Protestant church on one side, and the Roman Catholic chapel on the other. This still retained many signs of the outward services of the latter church, notably the gaudy pictures that ornamented the walls, a large one being that of the virgin and child.
Separated from these churches by a narrow, sunless passage, formed by the surrounding walls, were the jail buildings, strongly built of stone. Of special interest was the place where the gallows used to be erected when death was the penalty for crime. Although the time had gone by forever when such scenes could be witnessed, a feeling akin to horror could not be suppressed when passing beneath the spot where so many had taken their last farewell of life, and the silent, narrow cells around seemed almost in the echo of one’s footfall to give forth the sad sighs and groans of despair, as the condemned criminal awaited the moment when he should be called forth to meet his doom.
Until a more settled state of things was reached, on their immediate arrival the families were arranged into groups of two and three, and messed together. Two women, whose respective families occupied the same house, went out one day in search of green herbs for food. They congratulated themselves on finding a good supply of onions, and brought their treasures home, pleased at the thought of the relish they would add to the evening meal. A hearty laugh greeted the discovery that their precious onions were the bulbs of the narcissus, which in their ignorance they had so naturally mistaken for onions.
The dwelling houses differed in every respect from, and were altogether superior to, the thatched cottages that the people had so lately occupied. These were built mostly of stone, the walls within being neatly plastered, and they were roofed with shingles, supplied from the Norfolk Island pine. The houses generally consisted of four large rooms with chimneys attached. Each kitchen, which was a separate building, was floored with stone, and had a spacious fireplace and a brick oven on one side of the chimney. The interior was made light and clean by being frequently whitewashed. Attached to each cottage was a garden; and flowers fair and fragrant delighted the senses of both sight and smell. Altogether the change was a decided gain, and everything bespoke only prosperity and happiness in store for the people that had been so highly favored.