The home of the mutineers . o; and the women, foiledin their attempt to get away, again settleddown in their sad and unwelcome they had proposed to go, it isimpossible to say. The nearest island toPitcairn, nearly ninety miles to the north,is Oeno, of coral formation, a barren place,most difficult of access. There is also, about 120 miles from Pit-cairn, Elizabeth or Hendersons Island, socalled after Captain Henderson, of the Her-cules, of Calcutta. It is nearly eightyfeet above the level of the sea, five milesin length, one mile in breadth, of volcanicformation, and covered with
The home of the mutineers . o; and the women, foiledin their attempt to get away, again settleddown in their sad and unwelcome they had proposed to go, it isimpossible to say. The nearest island toPitcairn, nearly ninety miles to the north,is Oeno, of coral formation, a barren place,most difficult of access. There is also, about 120 miles from Pit-cairn, Elizabeth or Hendersons Island, socalled after Captain Henderson, of the Her-cules, of Calcutta. It is nearly eightyfeet above the level of the sea, five milesin length, one mile in breadth, of volcanicformation, and covered with dead soil is poor and sandy. There aremany trees and shrubs on the island, andit has been occasionally visited by the Pit-cairn people, chiefly for the sake of thetimber found there. On the occasion oftheir visit in 1851, they found eight humanskeletons in caves; probably the re-mains of some shipwrecked mariners, who,unable to procure food or water, had laindown to die. The women, in the same year in which. Coral Island. 152. DEATH OF MCKOY. 153 they had endeavoured to quit Pitcairn, de-liberately planned the destruction of thefour men left among them. This dreadfulplot was discovered in time by the men;and a partial and suspicious peace wasbrought about. But other horrors re-mained behind. McKoy had formerly been employed ina Scotch distillery, and being much ad-dicted to ardent spirits, set about makingexperiments on the tee-root, and at lengthunfortunately succeeded in producing anintoxicating liquor. This success inducedhis companion Quintal to turn his kettleinto a still. The consequence was, thatthese two men were in a constant stateof drunkenness, particularly McKoy; onwhom it had the effect of producing fitsaf delirium; and in one of these he threwaimself from a cliff, and was killed on thespot! The melancholy fate of this mancreated so forcible an impression on theremaining few, that they resolved neveragain to touch spirits. Some time in the followin
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1850, booksubjectmissions, bookyear185
