Sidor som bilder
PDF
ePub

A

DESCRIPTION

OF

PITCAIRN'S ISLAND

AND ITS

INHABITANTS.

WITH

AN AUTHENTIC ACCOUNT

OF THE

MUTINY OF THE SHIP BOUNTY,

AND OF THE

SUBSEQUENT FORTUNES OF THE MUTINEERS.

NEW-YORK:

PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY J. & J. HARPER,

NO. 82 CLIFF-STREET,

AND SOLD BY THE PRINCIPAL BOOKSELLERS THROUGHOUT

THE UNITED STATES.

2 50311

1832

PREFACE.

THE Editor of this little volume (for he presumes not to write Author) has been induced to bring into one connected view what has hitherto appeared only in detached fragments (and some of these not generally accessible)-the historical narrative of an event which deeply interested the public at the time of its occurrence, and from which the naval service in particular, in all its ranks, may still draw instructive and useful les

sons..

The story in itself is replete with interest. We are taught by The Book of sacred history, that the disobedience of our first parents entailed on our globe of earth a sinful and a suffering race: in our time there has sprung up from the most abandoned of this sinful family-from pirates, mutineers, and murderers a little society which, under the precepts of that sacred volume, is characterized by religion, morality, and innocence. The discovery of this happy people, as unexpected as it was accidental, and all that regards their condition and history, partake so much of the romantic, as to render the story not ill adapted for an epic poem. Lord Byron, indeed, has partially treated the subject; but by blending two incongruous stories, and leaving both of them imperfect, and by mixing up fact with fiction, has been less felicitous than usual;

280811

THE

EVENTFUL HISTORY

OF THE

MUTINY OF THE BOUNTY.

CHAPTER I.

OTAHEITE.

"THE gentle Island, and the genial soil,

The friendly hearts, the feasts without a toil,
The courteous manners, but from nature caught,
The wealth unhoarded, and the love unbought,

[blocks in formation]

The bread-tree, which, without the ploughshare, yields

The unreap'd harvest of unfurrow'd fields,

And bakes its unadulterated loaves

Without a furnace in unpurchas'd groves,
And flings off famine from its fertile breast,

A priceless market for the gathering guest ;-
These," &c.

BYRON.

THE reign of George III. will be distinguished in history by the great extension and improvement which geographical knowledge received under the immediate auspices of this sovereign. At a very early period after his accession to the throne of these realms, expeditions of discovery were undertaken, " not," as Dr. Hawkesworth observes, “with a view to the acquisition of treasure, or the extent of dominion, but for the improvement of commerce, and the increase and diffusion of knowledge." This excellent monarch was himself no mean proficient in the science of geography; and it may be doubted if any one of his subjects, at the period alluded to,

B

« FöregåendeFortsätt »