NO. 7. TRUTH AND LIBERTY SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 1889. THE SURPRISE. Joy met Sorrow in a place PITCAIRN'S ISLAND.* I. CREATION. seas. .VOL. XXXVIII. It is an outlying and incon- scaly denizens of the coral-bays. Its siderable island, beyond the path of long seasons of fruitful peace, the the barbarian canoe paddling in the rustling of leaves, the hum of falling lower archipelago, and out of the waters, and the rolling murmur of great seaway of commerce. It ap- the surf breaking upon its strand, pertains to latitudes where nature awoke no joy,-while the sweeping has scattered her gifts with a lavish tempest and the blazing lightning hand. Even amidst the beauties and the fearful hurricane that came and opulence of the Tropics, this anon, inspired no fear in the marvelous region bears away the breast of man. Above two decades palm. It has an almost ever sunny passed on, pregnant with sorrow and clime, luscious fruits and gorgeous with joy to the human inhabitants flowers, plants rich in bread already of other regions, but leaving this prepared for the human hand, sun-solitary spot in its virgin beauty and sets that are glories unsurpassed, like freshness. Yet, in the great web of the very Gates of Heaven, while around these emerald isles rolls an azure sea which rivals the vaults of the Empyrean. II. SIN. Providence, that silently works to an issue whereof man can have no foresight, a new destiny was being woven for this little island-a desIt was in 1767 that midshipman tiny that should fill it with human Pitcairn, attached to the Swallow, passion and mortal care, with sorrow Captain Cartaret, while passing and hope, and yet eventually make these latitudes, first set eyes upon the wilderness blossom with the this island, which was called by his roses of human life. name to him a transitory distinction, for he lied shortly after its It was on April 4th, 1789, that the discovery. When young Pitcairn ill-fated Bounty, another vessel Take up the map of the Western first saw the little isle, at the un- which hoisted British colors, and Hemisphere, and about South lati- unsual distance of fifteen leagues, it commanded by Lieutenant William tude 17 deg. and West longitude 149 appeared a mere point of high spiral Bligh, left Otaheite, laden with 1015 deg., the reader will find the posi- rock rising out of the sea, though, living plants of the bread-fruit tree, tion of Otaheite, so celebrated in the on drawing nearer to its shores, it with which the government had voyages of the illustrious navigator was found to be a perfect island proposed to enrich our West-India Cook, and so remarkable for its seven miles in circumference, and colonies. Her homeward voyage natural beauties. It is the largest of eleven hundred feet high. Stormy seemed likely to be prosperous. Mathat group called the "Society Is-weather at the time hin lered the jestically the good ship sailed on, lands," which stretch away, East- boats from landing, but the discov-moving like a living thing across by-South, dotting the bosom of the ery was briefly noted in the log- the peaceful waters, all on board apPacific, as with emeralds and coral, book; Carteret recorded the event parently subordinated to the strict for the space of two thousand miles. afterwards in the printed narrative order and discipline that mark the Follow the track indicated, and the of his expedition; and the next hy- British navy. That calm, however, eye will fall upon "PITCAIRN, "nearly drographer probably added a fresh was delusive, and hid from sight the the last of this series of enchanting dot to his map of Polynesia. smouldering embers of human pasislets, and a thousand leagues to the The islet was left again to the soli- sion which awaited only the breath westward of the American conti- tude of nature. No human voice of opportunity to fan them into a nent. A little more than a century broke upon the stillness of its palmy devouring flame! Commander ago its existence was totally un- groves in the calm sunny weather, Bligh, unfortunately, was of an unknown, alike to the navigators of startling the plumed birds-no tread happy disposition, exacting and imEurope and the savages of the South of the swift hunter overtook the tar- perious. He had neither the art nor dy tortoise for his prey-no boat- the grace to mingle human sympa*This sketch first appeared in the First numbers of the Alliance News, and after-man's ore splashed the blue waters thy with rigid discipline, and had wards in' Works of Dr. Lees," vol. i. (1853.) into silver ripples, disturbing the contrived to destroy that unity of feeling which is the best security for the harmonious working of every machinery of government, whether in a ship, or in the larger vessel of the state. lat., 184 E. long.) when thus aban- hood is credited, and, for a season, There was on board the Bounty, acting in the capacity of Master's mate, one Fletcher Christian, a young man who came of a respectable family in the north of Englan 1, endowed with excellent talents, but of a hot and revengeful temper. The smouldering exasperation in which the commander kept his crew was first made manifest by overt acts in the person of young Christian, who The second act of the drama now gave way to a settled spirit of re-opens upon us. Unchecked power sentment, and a determination to be and harsh self-will have generated revenged on Bligh for the slights and insults heaped upon himself and others. He conspired with some of the crew to seize the vessel. The conspiracy rapidly fomented to a head, and at last broke out into open mutiny. The night of the 27th of April, 1789, was notable, even in the latitude of the Marquesas, for its wondrous lustre and repose. But, as if in designed contrast to the calm of nature, and while the stars looked down from their azure depths with a mystic brightness, revenge and lawlessness were preparing the first act of the coming tragedy! As morning approached, Mr. Christian, who was the officer of the watch, entered, with three other persons, the cabin of the Commander, and seized him while asleep. He was then bound, and threatened with instant death should he give the slightest alarm. Finally, an open boat being lowered, he was placed in it, along with nineteen of the crew who had not participated in the mutiny. When he thus became aware of the calamity that had come upon him, and ere the boat was cut adrift, without map, ephemeris, or sextant-he made a last appeal to Christian. The reply of that unhappy young man reveals the storm of fiery remorse that had already commenced the work of eternal retribution-"I am in hell-I am in hell-Captain Bligh!" their bitter fruit, resistance and re- From the deck of the stately ship, They consult and flight is determined on. The mutineers, at least such as dare not brave the risk of staying, will seek a more secure retreat. Leaving, then, a number of the crew behind them, they again set sail, taking with them six Tahitan men and twelve Tahitan women. Of the latter, nine were wives of the sailors-three, wives of the Tahitans whom they carried away with them. Passion and lust being alike sated, the crew began to taste the bitter dregs of disappointment. They had The Bounty is now speeding sown, but will not contentedly reap. back to the enchanting shores of They blame each other; all the more Otaheite, the sensual ease and licen- that each man's conscience blames tious pleasures of which the mutin- himself. Mutual recriminations eneers already taste by anticipation! sue. Fletcher Christian grows In those times-far more so than moody, fitful and impatient. They now -seamen (not of England cruise about. At Toobouai, to dimerely, but of Europe and America vert their thoughts into healthier generally) were only missionaries of channels, Christian orders a fort to evil, who, with the name of Chris- be erected; but the work does not tians, inoculated the comparatively innocent savages with a more subtle and destructive virus than was known to their paganism. But a dilemna presents itself! How shall they account to the natives for their We need not here pursue the ad- unlooked-for return?-for the abventures of this boat's crew, long sence of the commander and so since published in the graphic nar- many of his men? The first departrative, "The Mutiny of the Bounty," ure from rectitude generates a sec-it The boat was loaded almost to the ond, as one crime breeds another. water's edge. Before leaving, how- A lie must be devised to deceive the ever, the men were permitted to simple-minded children of nature. collect twine, canvas, lines, sails, It is soon told. "They had met with cordage, and a 28 gallon cask of Captain Cook, the Islanders' old and, not least, its vast distance from friend, and Lieutenant Bligh, who other land, save a few islets like had been with Cook in his former itself, and they hundreds of miles expedition, had rejoined him with away. some of their comrades." The false water; and also to take a small store of rum and wine, with a quadrant and compass. They were near the Tonga Islands (Tofoa, 19 degrees S. progress. Once more the anchor is heaved, and the Bounty spreading its guilty wings, takes flight where no man pursueth. And now, at last, standing right across their path, are the peaks of Pitcairn-which shall be to them the Patmos of Expiation. It is examined. All things point out as the Isle of Refuge; its rockbound coast, which can be safely approached only in certain states of the weather, so dangerous is the surf; its isolation and insignificance; Council is held, and the die is cast! A party proceeds to unship a party of men actually landed. But moral and historical. The reason their goods, and to carry them the danger in the distance made perhaps is, that Truth, as a divine ashore. Amongst other things, the mutineers blind to a greater one and central principle of the unisome books are not forgotten. Mark at hand, and instantly impending. verse, reproduces itself perpetually them lying there in a heap, little The Otaheitans, watching their in every sphere. Howsoever that heeded now, but eventually to ger- opportunity, took Christian and four may be, in Pitcairn all was very minate into glorious life and fruit- of his companions at unawares, and dark. The old generation, mutually fulness. killed them. Thus did the violence butchered by the sword, or selfThe last boat has left the ship; but and wrongfulness of the whites immolated by intemperance, had before leaving, a brand has been bring its own punishment, in turn passed away. The group of beautiapplied to the fated vessel. For to bring destruction upon the na- ful yet hapless children, born of good or for ill, their destiny is now tives themselves-violence evermore Otaheitan mothers, but springing irrevocably fixed to that little spot. begetting violence. Between the from English fathers, were in these On that rock to the right, beneath mutineers that remained, and the circumstances uncared for, untendthe waving palm trees, the Tahitan six Tahitan men, a civil war now ed, and surrounded by sin only for women, wrapt in their graceful raged, the more astute and better example. They seemed likely to be togas, babes in arms, are watching armed whites naturally in the end taught the vices both of savagery the proceedings in silent wonder. exterminating their unfortunate an- and civilization, and to inherit the On the rocky strand is Christian, tagonists. The soil of this once virtues of neither. Captives to cirdark, moody and determined; peaceful island was now drenched cumstance, they awaited, like the around him his desperate and disso- in human gore. Jews of old, an Instructor and Lawlute companions. Their gaze is giver to bring them to Christ. fixed upon the burning vessel, now enveloped in flames from port-hole to topmast. What were their thoughts then, as the last link that bound them to the civilized world was being severed! The vessel is now consumed to the water's edge, the flames have burnt low, though huge volumes of opaque smoke, like the vapors of a sacrifice, rise up toward the holy heavens. Darkness descends softly over the lovely isle as the sacrifice is completed. Will it be accepted? IV. RETRIBUTION. The climax of evil, however, was not yet reached. This little colony, as if it were a type of mankind, was doomed to pass, by the lust of forbidden pleasure, through another phase of civilization, besides that of war. John Adams had been originally an errand boy in London. In this capacity he had meritoriously taught himself to read, while doing his errands in the, streets of the great city-the placards being his alphabet and primer! Little could any man have foreseen what social and moral power was latent in that modicum of knowledge! The two survivors of the mutineers destined to be the nursing fathers of this young generation were, singularly enough,called Adams and Young.* The latter, a midshipman, did not long survive the sanguinary The Ghoul of Intemperance, im- events in which he had been conprisoned in its dark limbo by the cerned, and at his death the care of seal of the Impossible, had not yet this little community devolved solereveled and rioted over the health,ly upɔn Adams. the beauty, and the sanity of this people. Amongst the most destructive inventions of man are undoubtedly the arts of fermentation and distillation, whereby the innocent Alas! the lesson of suffering was fruits of the earth are transmuted not yet complete for repentance into a fiery fluid which has proved had not yet come. The mutineers far more fatal than famine, war, and had dealt treacherously with the pestilence combined. One of the Tahitans, as with their own com- mutineers had learnt this fatal art in rades of the Bounty. They had the fatherland. In an evil hour he We recorded the fact, that when lured these unsophisticated children sought out a native plant, the juice the stores were landed from the of nature, with the view, as they of which, as containing saccharine Bounty, some books were amongst now discovered, of converting them matter, was adapted to his purpose. them. One day, as Adams was into slaves! These unhappy beings, The sweet solution was fermented, turning over the lumbered and untherefore, righteously rebelled against the sugar transmuted into the dead-used things, he stumbled upon a their tyrants; they even plot their de-ly spirit, and this extracted by dis- volume. Sick of the scenes of outstruction. Crime ripens to its terrible tillation. Intoxication was added rage and debauchery through which harvest; suspicion and fear every- to the catalogue of crime already he had passed, and partly sensible where prevail. Christian, still haunt- intolerable, the cup of iniquity was of the "exceedingly sinfulness of ed with the dread of discovery from full. Two of the men were almost sin" resulting in such appalling consome government vessel sent in pur- perpetually drunk. One of them sequences as he had felt and witsuit, erects a kind of fort upon an finally cast himself from a tall cliff nessed, he was in the right mood elevated spot, from whence to ob- in an attack of delirium tremens, for salutary impressions. The sight serve any ship that might approach and the second met with a fate of that book, too, woke up many the island. The clouds in the Trop- equally terrible. The other sur-old thoughts-reminiscences of his ics often assume distinct shapes, and vivors of the crew of the Bounty, earnest and happier boyhood, when it is no wonder that, viewed through now reduced to two, had their lives the world stretched out hopeful and the unsteady telescope of an imag-daily jeopardized by the violence of radiant before him, when he was ination excited by guilt, the very this armed drunkard. At last, in unstained with crime, and vapours of heaven put on the form self-defence, they slew him! troubled by remorse. Slowly and of the avenging ship! Often would The curtain falls, again in dark- V. THE SCHOOLMASTER. un *It is another curious fact, that he who was so fatally connected with the tragical part of our drama, should have possessed a double-name, representing the first and the "Fletcher-Christian." Fletcher is the hard pronunciation of "Flesher," the Scotch It is darkest before dawn. This is last part of our history, symbolically: not only true proverbially of the physical order of events, but of the name for butcher, The darkness had indeed vanished, and the morning light of Christian hope and progress shone brightly upon them. in the English captains. They took their boat's crew and visited the island. Their wonder increased. All bore the aspect of love; the very air breathed peace. The spot seemed like some miniature Eden-an oasis in the Sahara of sin. curiously he lifted up the book and hailed the ships in "the mother paid to public worship, he of course, opened it. It was a BIBLE-that tongue" of old England. When acting as chaplain. In course of volume which, above and beyond these youths had come on board, time a community gathered around all others, has been the instrument and refreshments were offered them, him as their patriarchal centre, their of arousing the dormant conscience the surprise was heightened by their temporal adviser and spiritual guide and the spiritual nature of man by reverently standing up, while, with-in all numbering forty-six indiits narratives, its appeals, and its folded hands, they implored of God, viduals. The English language was promises of feeding the lofty hopes "the grace of thankfulness." the one they spoke,but they brought of immortality indigenous to our The reading of the Bible had done no discredit on the old country. species, of speaking peace and giving | it. Reflection had led to that genu- These young people grew up handrest to the wounded spirit, and of ine repentance which needs not to some in person, modest in manners, inspiring the heart and arming the be repented of. Daily, for years, and industrious in their habits— will to works of mercy and self- might John Adams have been seen, Nature's unpolluted children. Vice denial for the redemption of man. sitting beneath the runners that was now utterly unknown amongst The seed of Truth is sown in the clustered round his cot, reading them, whilst the simple arts which soul of that erring one, and the aloud the Book of Life. The dusky Adams had brought with him, being wicked man has turned away from wife stands listening near, not un-imparted to them, contributed to surthe wickedness he hath done. We profited, while the once hard, world-round their homes with comforts leave him for a season, during which ly man is melted by the truth. and conveniences of various kinds. that seed, watered by the dews of Amidst the pauses of the narrative, Divine grace, will take root and they glance beyond the neat enspring up to eternal life. closure of the hut, unconsciously VI. REDEMPTION. drinking in the beauty of the scene Our story commenced at a period the palm-crowned hillocks in the This, then, was the explanation when Europe was heaving with the foreground, beyond the rich valleys of the conduct of Young and Quinfirst of those revolutionary throes and rugged peaks, the far-bounding tal-the two visitors from Pitcairn that shortly afterwards overturned sea and fantastic clouds terminating-which had excited such surprise so many of its thrones, and con- the horizon; or, at other times atvulsed society to its centre. The tracted by the clear ringing laughinterest and curiosity excited by the ter of youthful voices, they look on affair of the Bounty, and the total with the eyes of love, watching the disappearance of ship and crew from sports and gambols of the happy the eyes of men, had subsided-for- children. Every opportunity of gotten indeed in the absorbing ter- doing good had been eagerly seized rors of the time. The tragedy of by the altered man, and soon the the French Revolution was over- first school was established. One the glories of the empire were passed day, desiring to have a new piece of -Napoleon himself a prisoner in ground broken up, wherein to plant the little Isle of Elba. The curtain yams, he had offered to two youths, had fallen upon the fourth act of the named Edward Quintal and Robert great European drama-the fifth was Young, a small phial of gunpowder about to begin, of which the grand- by way of reward for doing it. The est scene should be enacted on the work was finished, and the youths, field of Waterloo, and the most in- who no doubt had coveted Adams' structive closed with the rocky accomplishment of reading, so eviprison of St. Helena. dent a source of gratification and Turn we now to our rocky isle-power, now asked him, "Which selected as a voluntary prison by would please him best-to give them the mutineers of the Bounty, twen- the powder, or to teach them to ty-five years before. It was in the read?" Delighted with their obyear 1814, towards the close of a vious desire, he offered instruction serene evening in September, that and powder both. The latter they two English men-of-war, cruising refused, the former they gladly in the South Sea, found themselves accepted. He further told them that in sight of an island whereof their any of their companions might charts gave no indication. When come, and he would teach them morning dawned, human dwellings also. To his great delight the whole were distinctly visible, so neat in of the children came to be taught to their structure, and so finished and read, and manifested such a thirst orderly in their appurtenances, as to for knowledge, that he had soon suggest the habitations of civilized little else to do than attend to this beings. Whilst the English com- charming university of truth-seekmanders were conjecturing what ers-this little band of hope. And with cocoa-nut made into cakes, and this meant, a canoe was observed to very gently and wisely did John eaten with molasses. Taro-root is put from shore, guided by two Adams carry on his labor of love. no bad substitute for bread; and youthful men, one of whom, as they The lips that had once given utter- bananas, plantains, and appoi, are approached, was distinguished by ance to habitual blasphemy, now wholesome and nutritive fruits. The his tall figure, dark hair, and ex-taught the young to lisp the song of common beverage is water; but they pressive countenance. Much to the praise and prayer. On the Sabbath, make a tea from the tea-plant, flavastonishment of the officers, they a cheerful yet strict attention was ored with ginger, and sweetened "The agility and strength of these natives were so great," report the British officers, "that the stoutest and most expert English sailors were no match for them in wrestling and boxing. Young and Quintal, each carried at one time, a kedge anchor, two sledge hammers, and an armorer's anvil-weighing together upwards of 600 pounds, and Quintal once carried a boat twenty-eight feet in length." They are described as being finely formed, with open and benevolent countenances. The young women were especially attractive, being tall, strong, and beautifully modeled, their faces beaming with smiles and good humor, their teeth perfect in their regularity, and white as ivory. Captain Beechy adds: "They are certainly a finer and more athletic race than is usually found among the families of mankind.” The explanation is in their cleanliness, activity, and dietetic habits. "Yams constitute their principal food, either boiled, baked, or mixed with the juice of the sugar cane. They but seldom kill a pig-living mostly on fruits and vegetables." Adams had naturally been somewhat disturbed by this visit; but the English commanders, after assuring him that he had nothing now to fear, again set sail for their native country, to clear up the story of the Bounty. real blessing to the community. His had spoken in praise of the exem- At the request of the islanders themselves, and by the advice of many of the friends of the colony abroad-for its history had now beEleven years passed away ere come known-Mr. Nobbs resolved another ship approached Pitcairn. to visit England, with the view of In 1825. however, some officers of being regularly ordained to the office an English man-of-war landed on of a Christian pastor. His people its shore. They found peace and accompanied him to the shore, and love still pervading that miniature with tears and embraces, bade him world. On retiring to rest, the farewell. It will be in the recollecevening hymn, chanted by the tion of our readers, that this visit, islanders, lulled them into slumber, in 1852, excited much interest. He and they were awakened at dawn was duly ordained in London in by holy songs of praise. that year, and before his return to Pitcairn, had the honor of an introduction to Queen Victoria, who was very greatly pleased with the account of his adopted home. It was not until 1829, forty years after the mutiny of the Bounty, that John Adams, full of years and of virtue, passed to his rest and reward. The active goodness of his later life had cast into shade the vices which had stained his prime. Before his departure, however, a successor had been prepared, to continue and crown the work so auspiciously begun. VII. PROVIDENCE. Every inquiry into the condition of the people of that little island, confirms the impression of their purity and happiness, and naturally suggests questions as to the causes of its stability. Those causes are evidently both positive and negative understanding by the latter, the removal of such positive influences for evil as would tend to disturb the balance of forces on which the social and moral harmonies depend. Captain Worth, who visited Pitcairn in 1848, thus describes their mental and moral condition: Mr. Nobbs seems to understand pefectly the secret of this happy state of things. He doesn't trouble himself, indeed, like some of our verbalizing philosophers, about the composition of causes, or metaphysical distinctions between cause and occasion, or antecedent and condition, etc., but he goes nevertheless to the heart of the fact. A gentleman had asked Mr. Nobbs to account for such an absence of evil amongst the inhabitants of Pitcairn, in harmony with the current doctrine of human depravity. "Because," he replied, "the children have no bad example before their eyes; the seed of evil is no doubt in them, as in all other human beings, but there is no encouragement from without to bring it to the surface. The Bible is their daily and hourly rule of life. If a dispute arise, for example, they act on the injunction, "Let not the sun go down upon your wrath." Again, the young people know they can marry when they are old enough, so one temptation to sin is removed. There are no differences of religious opinion amongst them. A bad word or an indecent jest are unknown upon the island-nor are intoxicating liquors ever seen.” About the year 1813 there was a young midshipman in the British navy, named George H. Nobbs. He experienced in that capacity a good deal of the roving life of a sailor, and in after years mingled in scenes of political turmoil, serving for a time in the revolutionary war "I never was so gratified as by In this respect, they are far wiser of South America. Finally, shocked my visit, and would rather have than (what are called) civilized and disgusted with the horrors and gone there than to any part of the countries. They allow the past to cruelties of civil strife, he secured a world. They are the most interest- teach them. They do not depend passage to England in a ship that ing, contented, and happy people merely upon education, or upon had touched at Pitcairn. The pic- that can be conceived. The comfort, Christian principle, or upon selfture which (in conversations occur- peace, strict morality, industry, and government, etc.; they avoid that ring in the interval before sailing) excessive cleanliness and neatness which tends to corrupt all these. In which the captain drew of the peace- apparent about them, were really such dread and abhorrence are ful and happy life of the islanders such as I was not prepared to wit- strong drinks held at Pitcairn, that in contrast to the discord and car-ness; their learning and attainments one of the first enactments of their nage from which Nobbs had with- in general education and informa- little code of laws guards against drawn, touched and fascinated him. tion are astonishing; the men and their admission. Thus it runs: He abandoned his design of return- women are a fine race, and their "No person or persons shall be ing to his native country; he would manners of a really superior order- allowed to get spirits of any sort visit this isle of the blest. ever smiling and joyous; but one from any vessel. No intoxicating But how to get to this remote spot mind and one wish seems to actuate liquor whatever shall be allowed to was the question. He might wait them all. Crime appears to be un-be taken on shore, unless for medicyears for any vessel that designed known; and if there is really true inal purposes.” to call. At last he procured a frail happiness on earth, it is surely A Maine law is the protection of barque of eighteen tons burthen, theirs. The island is romantic and Pitcairn; the flaming sword that and a companion with whom to beautiful; the soil of the richest guards the gates of this Paradise of venture upon the voyage. Navi- description, yielding almost every the Pacific. gated by these two persons alone, fruit and vegetable. In short, it is the vessel safely reached its destina- a little paradise." tion. Adams received them with hospitable kindness, and after the death of that patriarch, Mr. Nobbs took his place as preceptor to the children of Pitcairn. He became a For I the Lord cannot look upon Even the rudest sailors who have sin with the least degree of allowbeen sometimes allowed to land, ance; nevertheless, he that repents have been awed by the dignity of and does the commandments of the virtue in these simple inhabitants. Lord shall be forgiven.-Doc. and One seaman to whom a gentleman | Cov. |