Page 233. 1. 14 for parles,' read parlez. 339. 1. 12. for adhere,' read advance.

་

373. 1. 9. for advantages,' read advantage, with a comma after it.

437. 1. 5. for Sinclair's,' read Sinclairs.

THE

MONTHLY REVIEW,

For SEPTEMBER, 1817.

ART. I. A Narrative of the Briton's Voyage to Pitcairn's Island; including an interesting Sketch of the present State of the Brazils, and of Spanish South America. By Lieutenant J. Shillibeer, R. M. Illustrated with Sixteen Etchings by the Author, from Drawings on the Spot. Second Edition. 8vo. pp. 180. 8s. 6d. Boards. Law and Whittaker. 1817.

FE

Ew readers, and especially those who attend to nautical affairs, or the fortunes of our adventurous brethren who wander over this terraqueous globe, can be ignorant of the mutiny of some of the officers and seamen of The Bounty armed ship, commanded by Lieutenant (now Vice-Admiral) Bligh, in the South Seas in the year 1789; and of the unrivalled escape of that gentleman to Timor, with several companions, in a small open boat, passing over a tempestuous ocean for several thousand miles. * They will recollect, too, that many years elapsed without any specific information respecting the proceedings of the ship and its mutinous chief; The Pandora frigate, which was sent out in search of him, having been wrecked, and having gained little intelligence of him, though several of his men were taken at Otaheite. In the narrative of the Missionary Voyage to the South Sea Islands, some particulars concerning the early operations of these people, after their seizure of the vessel, were communicated: but the ultimate destination and fate of Christian, the leader of the mutiny, still formed an object of mere conjecture. Since that period, a ship commanded by Mayhew Folgier touched at Pitcairn's Island, and discovered the remains of the rebellious crew, with their progeny, who had there made a settlement; and in 1814 his Majesty's ship The Briton happening to anchor off this island, farther and satisfactory knowlege on this interesting point has been acquired, the substance of which is communicated in the volume now before us.

Though some of the most important particulars in Lieutenant Shillibeer's narrative have already appeared in the public prints, we are glad to have them exhibited to us more fully and in a more authentic shape. At the same time, we

* See M. R. Vol. ii. N. S. p. 332.; and Vol. ix. p. 78.

P. 332.5

must

must intimate disapprobation at so heavy a price being imposed on 180 octavo pages of open letter-press; accompanied by etchings, it is true, but which are the attempts of a very young and apparently a self-instructed artist; some of them representing subjects which convey little or no information; and all being very indifferently executed. Immoderate advantage should not be taken of public curiosity, when excited, as it has been with respect to Pitcairn's Island, by humane and generous feelings; which it ought to be gratifying to satisfy, independently of every other advantage. To this consideration the publishers were the more bound to attend, as the author explains his motive in writing the narrative to have been simply that of complying with the solicitations of the companions of his voyage.

The English frigate The Briton, commanded by Captain Sir Thomas Staines, was ordered to the South Sea (in December 1813) in search of the American frigate Essex, which had done much mischief to English vessels employed in the fur-trade and the South-whale-fishery. At the harbour of Rio Janeiro, in which The Briton anchored, the author remarks on the cruel treatment to which the slaves of the Portuguese settlers are subjected, and observes that a man possessing a few slaves here may be considered of good property, particularly if he has brought them up to trades.' The following story also was related to Lieut. S. by a British merchant:

'One of these slaves was a barber, and for a considerable period shaved me every morning: he was a quiet man and of great industry, and, as far as came under my observation, always on the alert for his master's interest. For several days I observed he bore a gloomy and melancholy appearance. I asked him, the reason, and was informed he had been unsuccessful, and could not render to his master the sum required; that he had little hopes of being able to raise it, and as little doubt of being punished.* I gave him something towards it. When he came again, he informed me, that out of thirteen or fourteen he alone had escaped the lash; but, if he did not make up the deficiency, his would be of greater severity than had been inflicted on his companions..

As the time approached when he must render to his master an account, he became greatly distressed, and despaired of accomplishing his promise. He went with tears in his eyes, tendered what he had gained, and assured him of having used every means to raise the specific sum, and implored a remission of punishment, or a suspension until the following Monday, which at length was granted him, but not without threats of many additional stripes in case of failure. The time fast approached, when he must return. He was still deficient. He reached the door of his master's house, when, in despair of being forgiven, and dreading the ordeal he had to undergo, he took from his pocket a razor

and

and with a desperate hand nearly severed his head from his body. I saw him, several days after, lying in this mangled state near the place where he had perpetrated it. This horrid deed had no other effect on the master than to increase his severity towards. the others, on whom he imposed heavier burdens, to recompense him for the loss he had so recently sustained.'

We shall only observe on this deplorable catastrophe, that it will be an important advance towards the civilization of mankind when the European nations shall in reality havę ceased to practise or to tolerate slavery.

At the end of March 1814, The Briton sailed from Rio Janeiro, and early in May passed Cape Horne, off which she encountered a heavy gale of wind; when the sea,' the author says, 'bore a more terrific appearance than I ever wish again to witness.' They arrived in safety, however, at Valparaiso, and found lying there the American ship Essex, which had become a prize to The Phoebe frigate and Cherub sloop of war.

The Briton, in company with The Tagus, another of our frigates, then sailed to the coast of Peru, and to the Gallipagos islands: anchoring at Charles Island, and afterward at Chatham Island. The earliest chart of the Gallipagos islands was made by the buccaneer Cowley; since whose time a more correct chart of them has been formed by Captain Colnett: but it happened, from a misapprehension of the early chart, that an island which Cowley had named King Charles's Isle was supposed by Captain Colnett to be a new discovery of his own, and on that presumption was called by him in his chart Lord Chatham's Isle; and in like manner an island, of which Cowley had no knowlege, was supposed to be his King Charles's Island, and is so marked in Captain Colnett's chart. This last-mentioned island has been named by the Spaniards Santa Maria de l'Aguada, and was said to furnish fresh water, on which account it was much frequented by the buccaneers. It was here also that The Briton and Tagus anchored, but, finding no fresh water, they remained there only one day. This was in the end of July; and the American frigate Essex had, in the August of the preceding year, been equally disappointed here in the same object, though at other times of the year she obtained a good supply of water at this -island.

From the Gallipagos, the frigates sailed to Nooahevah, one of the Marquesas islands, where they were received with great friendship, as soon as the natives understood that the ships were of a nation that was at war with the country to which Captain Porter of the Essex belonged. A tribe of the natives, who