Pitcairn’s island was peopled by English seamen, who having mutinied on board the ship Bounty, sought concealment on its distant and rock-bound shores. They went to Otaheite to obtain wives, returned in safety, and for more than twenty years remained in complete seclusion from the civilized world. It would be difficult for the imagination to form a more charming picture, than the description of these primitive people given by the first navigators who visited them in their peaceful retreat. The young people were tall, vigorous, and most beautifully formed, with countenances expressive of the utmost innocence, frankness, kindness, and good humor. The women were exceedingly lovely, and modest even to bashfulness. Marriages were performed with the utmost solemnity, by John Adams, the old patriarch of the colony. When young people formed an attachment for each other, it was simply necessary to inform this old man that the lover had cleared a piece of land, and raised sufficient stock to support a family; under such circumstances, his approbation was easily obtained, and the marriage ceremony immediately solemnized. Their habits were extremely neat and orderly, and their manners characterized by the utmost purity and decorum. The young women assisted their fathers and brothers in the cultivation of the ground, which produced bread-fruit, yams, sweet potatoes, cocoa-nuts and bananas. They likewise manufactured _tapa_ for garments, after the manner of their Otaheitan mothers; and had caps and bonnets of their own weaving, in which they displayed a great deal of taste and ingenuity. The Sabbath was kept as a day of rest and devotion, and they never ate a meal without kneeling and returning thanks, in the most simple and unaffected manner, to the great Giver of all mercies. [Illustration] Transcriber’s Notes Punctuation errors have been corrected. Page 25: “bass-relief” changed to “bas-relief” Page 208: “dance a cotillon” changed to “dance a cotillion” Page 249: “Rio Janeiro” changed to “Rio de Janeiro”