“‘All the children of the deceased mutineers speak tolerable English; some of them are grown to the size of men and women; and, to do them justice, I think them a very humane and hospitable people; and whatever may have been the errors or crimes of Smith, the mutineer, in times back, he is at present a worthy man, and may be useful to navigators who traverse this immense ocean. “‘Such is the history of Christian and his associates. Be it remembered that this island is scantily supplied with fresh water, so that it is impossible for a ship to get a supply. I place it in latitude 25° 2′ south, and 130° west longitude, from my last lunar observation. “‘Sunday, 7 February.—Light airs from the eastward and very hot. The ship laying off and on, I stayed on shore with the friendly Smith and his truly good people until 4 P. M., then left them and went on board and made sail, steering southeast and southeast by east, bound for Massafuero, having received from the people on shore some hogs, cocoanuts, and plantains. At noon the isle bore northwest by north by compass 34′ dist. Latitude observation 25° 31′ south, etc.’” After Captain Folger’s accidental discovery of the little colony on Pitcairn Island, nothing more was known or heard of them for a period of nearly six years. In the year 1814 H. M. ships _Briton_ and _Tagus_, commanded respectively by Captains Staines and Pipon, out on a cruise and returning to Valparaiso from the Marquesas, passed near the island. So strange was the sight of a ship that when these two were first descried approaching the island, the young woman who first saw them ran to make it known to the rest by saying that “two _paafata_ [a wooden flooring erected on four posts, on which the feed for their goats was kept] were floating in toward the shore, with their posts turned wrong end up.” But the experienced eye of John Adams soon discerned what the visitors were. As for the people on board, they were not a little surprised to see from their vessels the land laid out in regular plantations. The houses, too, that could be seen were different in make from those of the other islands they had lately visited. In a short time a canoe was seen paddling off towards the ships. To the astonishment of those on board, the visitors from the shore, on coming near enough to speak to those on the _Briton_, called out in plain English, “Won’t you heave us a rope now?” A rope was thrown them, and they were warmly welcomed on board.