Primary tabs
Transcription
[Page 2]
the 17 Sepr I fell in with an Island where none is laid down in the Admiralty or other Charts, according to the several Chronometers of the Briton & Tagus. I therefore hove to until daylight & then closed to ascertain whether it was inhabited, which I soon discovered it to be, & to my great astonishment found that every individual on the Island (forty in number) spoke very good English. They proved to be the descendants of the deluded Crew of the Bounty, which, from Otaheite, proceeded to the above mentioned Island, where the Ship was burnt.
A son of Christian's was the first born on the Island, now about 25 years of age (named Thursday October Christian). The older Christian fell a sacrifice to the jealousy of an Otaheitan Man within 3 or 4 years of their arrival on the Island. They were accompanied thither by six Otaheitan men & 12 women: the former were all swept away by desperate contentions between them & the Englishmen, & five of the latter have died at different periods, leaving at present only one man & seven women of the original Settlers.