ROMANTIC ISLAND

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 988, 3 June 1930, Page 10

ROMANTIC ISLAND

PICTURESQUE PITCAIRN VISITOR’S IMPRESSION “Pitcairn at night, under the tropical moon, with the air charged with the perfume of countless highly-scented little flowers, and filled with the voices of boys and girls in song, with the crash of | the breakers on the rocks heard over all, is in itself a veritable Garden of Eden. and its people the unspoiled children of Nature.” This picture of the colony which has descended from the mutineers of the Bounty is presented by Air. B. Murray, one of the two Wellingtonians who were marooned there for more than a month. “Fruit is to be found everywhere, in really incredible quantities and varieties. Indeed, we listed no less than 30 different kinds. For vegetables the. Pitcairners grow cabbage, lettuce, pumpkin, tomatoes. onions, potatoes, and several dftferent kinds of beans —almost everything that is known to the outside world,” said Air. Murray. THE STICK-BOX The waters round tlie island teem with fish. Each family has its own canoe, made from a little tree trunk hollowed out by axes. These canoes hold three people comfortably. On their fishing expeditions the Pitcairners take an article, called a “stickbox.” This is an oblong box, about I IS inches long, open at one end, and j having let into the other a single sheet 1 of glass. While fishing with a line they place the glass end of this box Just below the ripple on the surface, and, the water being wonderfully clear, they are able, by leaning over the sides of their canoes, and gazing through it, to watch the fish at their hooks below, many fathoms deep. One also gets a glimpse of marine life, by this means, and the vegetation is really wonderful. With shoals of brilliantlycoloured fish swimming lazily about among the bright-hued coral and sea flowers, the submarine scene is wonderful, Air. Murray said. “In the centre of the. island —contrary to general belief—there is a spring of the purest fresh water. Never in the history of the island has this spring run dry. The houses of the Pitcairn islanders are extreme!v well built, with timber sawn from the growing trees. Some of the houses are two-storeyed. Tlieir erection entails a lot of hard work and the exercise oC.no mean skill, but in this, as in everything, the people work as one great family. Each man helps his neighbour. The boundaries of the property of each person, wherein stands his house, banana trees, coconut palms, vegetable garden and orange trees, are unfenced. They are known at sight to the people by such landmarks as trees or rocks. Doors are never locked—they remain open, and the windows as well. This is the rule day and night, for there are no burglars or thieves.” HISTORICAL SPOTS Among the many places of historical interest visited were Timiti’s Crack. -» narrow .slit, in the solid rock of th ■ wave-washed coast, wherein Timiti's murderers thrust his body, and left it to the mercy of the gulls. Another place—a cave high up in the rocky | cliffs, which may be seen by ant' visiting ship, and which stands on the immediate right of the settlement—Christian’s Cove, wherein th® daring leader of the original mutineers lived during the first month of his arrival and watched the ocean for signs of a man-o-war sent on a mission of vengeance. There is also another cove lower down in the same cliff and fronted by a high natural, shelf of flat rock, upon which the men of the Bounty laid their gunpowder when the sun was high, to prevent by dampness. This place today o;_rrfes a quaint native name meaning “spread the powder.” Below it agai i there is another cave, the first blacksmith's shop on Pitcairn used by the crew of the Bounty, which, carries today the characteristic name of “Beat tlie Iron.” Tullaloo' Ridge. the netiutl spot whereon stood the wooden spike upon which Tullaloo's treacherous wife placed his head after hia frightful • death at her hands, was also visited.