cles where labor predominates or taste is essential, at a much cheaper rate. Here is a passage from his visit to the exhibition of manufactures at Brussels.

would not have paid for the mere workmanship of the case in England, where a £32 piano is in appearance little else than a plain veneered box."

His own facts about Switzerland (for he

We believe, however, that the instru"Entering the vestibule, we follow a path through mental action of English painofortes is sua series of saloons on the ground floor, all filled perior to that of foreign makes. But in with objects of great interest and beauty of execu- some things, Mr. Chambers says, we are tion. One saloon is filled with new-made steam- losing trade from the trashiness of the artiengines and locomotives, engineering tools, spin- cles: the cheap cottons of Manchester are ning-machines, and printing-presses; the work-in bad repute, from the character of their manship of which appeared to be equal to any colors, which vanish in the washing. thing of the kind in England. Next we have a saloon occupied with pianofortes, cabinets, and other articles, formed of walnut or other fine quotes long passages from Bowring and woods, and inlaid with ivory or mother-of-pearl; Symons to comment upon) are not very we observe here, also, some elegant gentlemen's numerous or conclusive. The apparent coaches and gigs, with harness to match. Another anomaly of an inland and mountainous saloon contains a most extraordinary variety of country allowing a perfect freedom of trade, leather, (a manufacture in which we are greatly and yet excelling her neighbors who have excelled by the Belgians,) painted floor-cloths, hair-cloths, furs, perfumery, aud periwigs. In access to the sea, navigable rivers, and ascending the grand staircase, we find the land- good level roads for the conveyance of proing-places occupied with iron safes, stoves, fire- duce, he does not seem inclined to solve grates for drawing-rooms, all unexceptionable and solely by free trade, but by circumstances in of first-rate finish. Landing on the upper floor, the economical and political condition of we walk from room to room, lost in the contempla- Switzerland. The government is very cheap, tion of the numerous products of Belgian industry; lace, linen, woollen, cotton, and silk goods, threads, taxes are very light; from various causes cutlery, crystal, paper, fire-arms, musical instru- the people are a sober, moral, and Malthuments, philosophical apparatus-in short, every sian race, not marrying till somewhat late in thing that a luxurious people can require. I spent life; the peculiar social circumstances of an hour in the closest examination of some of these the country are favorable to a combination articles; for I felt assured that, as regards excel- of rural and manufacturing labor; and lastlence of quality, England had here certainly met her match. The different parcels of cloth and flan-y, the whole of the people work, and work nels, the manufacture of Francois Biolley and sons hard-perhaps the hardest in Europe. He at Verviers, and of M. Snoeck at Herve, would not might have added, that though the Swiss have discredited the cloth-halls of Leeds; while impose no protective duties, their neighthe damasks of Fretigny and Company at Ghent, bors do it for them. The Custom-houses and Dejardin at Courtrai, gave indication that in of France, Germany, (now the Prussian this species of fabric the Low Countries maintained League,) and Austria, have virtually forbidtheir ancient reputation. The threads and laces den any free competition except with their of Brussels were exhibited in extensive variety. Altogether, the Exposition afforded a decided proof own sickly productions. Yet, notwithstandof the prodigious advance inade in the useful arts ing all that has been put forward respecting in Belgium of late years; and I believe nothing re- the comfort of the Swiss manufacturers, mains to be done but to find a market for her goods. Mr. Chambers rates the means of the British That, it appears, is no easy matter; partly in con- artisan higher, if they were not wasted, or sequence of the little influence which the country worse than wasted. has abroad, but chiefly from the preference given in most places to English goods. To put the ques- "To compare the condition of Switzerland with tion of price in some measure to the test, I bought that of England would be absurd. There is not a few articles of cutlery; and found that, though the slightest resemblance between them. The well executed, they cost rather more than they Swiss have pitched their standard of happiness at a were worth in England. From all I saw and heard, point which, as far as things, not feelings, are conmy impression is, that nearly all factory goods can cerned, could with great ease be reached by the still be produced cheaper, and on a greater scale, bulk of the British population. And here what in England than in Belgium; but that Belgium may be called the unfavorable features of Swiss can now manufacture most articles of as good society become prominent. There is little cumuquality, and only stands in need of due encourage-lative capital in Switzerland. It is a country of ment to be in every respect a most formidable small farmers and tradesmen, in decent but not competitor. As regards articles prepared by the wealthy circumstances. An active man among exercise of individual taste and skill, we are al- them could not get much. If he and his family ready far behind Belgium. I have never, for in-wrought hard they would not starve, and whatever stance, seen in England any work to compare in they got would be their own. On all occasions, in point of elegance of design and execution with speaking to respectable residents, the observation that displayed on the pianofortes and cabinets at on the people was-They labor hard, very hard; this Exposition. I remarked one pianoforte in par- but, they have plenty of food, and they are happy.' ticular, marked 800 francs (£32); a sum which Now it is my opinion, that if any man labor hard

in either England or Scotland, exercise a reason- | Castle to Holyrood House, the same in length as able degree of prudence, and be temperate and the main street in Berne, and not unlike it in apeconomical, he can scarcely fail in arriving at the pearance, there are 150 taverns, shops, or places of same practical results as the Swiss; nay, I go far- one kind or another in which spirituous liquors are ther, and will aver, that he has an opportunity of sold; and in Ross Street, a much less populous reaching a far higher standard of rational comfort thoroughfare, the number is 41. I did not see a than was ever dreamt of by the happiest peasant in drunken person in Switzerland; Sheriff Alison Switzerland. The condition of the Swiss is bless- speaks of ten thousand persons being in a state of ed, remotely, no doubt from the simple form of intoxication every Saturday night in Glasgow. * * government, but immediately and chiefly from the "I take the libetry of alluding to these practices, industry, humble desires, and economic habits of not for the purpose of depreciating the character the people. of the operative orders, but to show at least one "Switzerland is unquestionably the paradise of pretty conclusive piece of evidence why they do the working-man; but then, it cannot be called a not generally exhibit the same kind of happy homes paradise for any other; and I doubt if the perfec- as the Swiss. In a word, Bowring and Synons, tion of the social system-if the ultimate end of and, I may add Laign, seem to lead to the infercreation-is to fix down mankind at peasant and ence, that every thing excellent in the Swiss working-man pitch. Both Bowring and Symons operative and peasant's condition is owing to inare in raptures with the cottage-system of the Swiss stitutional arrangements; whereas, without underartisans; I own it is most attractive, and, as I have valuing these, I ascribe fully more, as already said, is doubtless productive of much happiness. stated, to the temperance, humble desires, and exBut who prevents English artisans from having traordinary economic habits of the people. That equally good houses with the Swiss? With a the practical advantages enjoyed by Swiss artisans money wage of some seven or eight shillings a are also, somehow, inferior to those of similar week, it is said the Swiss operative realizes, by classes in Britain, is evident from the fact that means of his free cottage, bit of ground, and gar- Swiss watchmakers emigrate to England for the den, equal to thirty shillings in England. My own sake of better wages than they can realize at conviction is, that fourteen or fifteen shillings home; and that some thousands of unskilled lawould be much nearer the mark; but, taking it at borers leave Switzerland annually to better their a larger sum, let us inquire if English workmen condition in foreign lands, is, I believe, a fact may not attain similar advantages. All perhaps which admits of no kind of controversy. Let us, could not, but I feel assured that every skilled arti- then conclude with this impartial consideration, san could-that is, every man receiving from fif- that if our working population have grievances to teen to twenty shillings per week, of whom there complain of, (and I allow these grievances are is no small number. British operatives are taxed neither few nor light,) they at the same time enjoy to a monstrous degree; almost every thing they a scope, an outlet for enterprise and skill, a means put in their mouths being factitiously raised in of enrichment and advancement, which no people price in a manner perfectly shameful. But they in Continental Europe can at all boast of. Switpossess a freedom known nowhere on the Conti-zerland, as has been said, isthe paradise of the nent. They can travel from town to town at all working man. It might with equal justice be addtimes without begging for passports; they are noted, that a similar paradise can be realized in the called upon for a single day's drill; in short, their home of every man who is willing to forego pertime is their own, and they may do with it as they sonal indulgences, and make his domestic hearth please. Exercising the same scrupulous economy the principal scene of his pleasures, the sanctuary as the Swiss, and in the same manner refraining in which his affections are enshrined." from marriage till prudence sanctioned such a step, I do not see what is to prevent a skilled and reguAttached to Mr. Chambers's account of larly-employed British operative from becoming the his own tour, is the narrative of a "Pedesproprietor of a small house and garden, supposing trian Excursion in Switzerland" by a friend, bis taste to lie that way. I know several who have who most undauntedly climbed mountains realized this kind of property; indeed, a large pro-and scaled precipices without a guide, and portion of the humbler class of tradesmen in the gives a plain and cheerful account of his adScottish country towns, villages, and hamlets, are

the proprietors of the dwellings in which they re-ventures, though his mind is not so enlarged side. Now, if some so placed contrive to realize by intellectual exercise as that of William property, why may not others do so? The answer Chambers. The entire work, it should be is, that a vast mass of our working population added, forms part of the "People's Edithink of little beyond present enjoyment. Gin-tions," and contains the typographical matwhisky!-what misery is created by these de-ter of a large octavo for eighteenpence. mons, every city can bear sorro ful witness. Cruelly taxed, in the first place, by the state, the lower classes tax themselves still more by their appetites. Scotland spends four millions of pounds annually on whisky, and what England disburses for gin and porter is on a scale equally magnificent. Throughout the grand rue of Berne, a mile in length, and densely populated, I did not see a single spirit-shop or tavern; I observed, certainly, that several of the cellars were used for the sale of wines. In the High Street of Edinburgh, from the

PITCAIRN'S ISLAND.

From the United Service Magazine.

THE accompanying extract of a letter from one of the officers of Her Majesty's ship Curaçoa, furnishes an interest

recent account of Pitcairn's Island, when | balloon,-the surprising thing to us was that ship visited it.

PITCAIRN'S ISLAND, Aug. 18, 1841.

that a man should have trusted himself in such a cradle, five miles off the shore, with such a sea running,-but these people are almost amphibious, and as children spend half their time in the water.

This island has attracted a peculiar interest in consequence of events which made it the abode of a British population. The Adams is a fine-looking fellow, the stouthistory of the mutiny of the Bounty is well est man on the island, his features regular, known to you, and you are, no doubt, well prominent, European; his skin of an olive acquainted with the particulars of the sub-hue, with a remarkably frank and open counsequent visits of Sir Thomas Staines and Capt. Beechey, so I shall confine myself to observations made during our visit in the Curaçoa.

tenance. He is thirty-seven years of age.

In the afternoon a large party of us left the ship, and, steered by Adams, landed in "Water Valley," on the lee side of the island, where a kind of natural breakwater is form. ed. Knowing the entrance, boats can land in safety, although the surf was breaking

with the nautical expression he made use of on this, as well as on several other occasions. "We must go right chock up over that hill, sir."

The interest felt, and the anxiety evinced to visit this island became more intense as we approached it. The forenoon was cloudy, with occasional showers of rain, which pre-high on each side of it. On landing we obvented us from seeing it till pretty close. served a very fine naturål bath in the rock, It is of considerable height, upwards of 1200 which we were admiring, when Adams smilfeet above the level of the sea, and may be ed, and said, "It was too smooth; that none seen on a clear day more than forty miles of the people would bathe there-they all off. We fired two guns as the cottages built loved the surf." On asking Adams how the on the north side opened to our view, and road led from the valley to their village on then lay to, waiting until some of the island-the other side of the hill, we were struck ers should communicate with us, which we feared could scarcely take place, as it was then blowing rather fresh, and the surf was beating high along the shore. After waiting some time we observed a canoe approach- After landing some arms, ammunition, ing us a mere skiff-a cockle-shell on the tools, and implements of husbandry, we comwater, which we did not perceive until quite menced the ascent, almost perpendicular at close to us, so much was she concealed by first, and continued so for nearly two miles. the curling waves; she was just large This was no easy matter; for the heavy enough to contain one person, who was rains, which had just fallen, had so softened steering with one hand, whilst the other was the rich soil, covered with decayed leaves, employed in bailing, having a sail set at the that there was hardly a possibility of maintime, no larger than a pocket-handerchief. taining a footing; no sooner did one make He shortened sail on coming close under a step forward than down he came on his our quarter, and hailed us in good, broad, face, or slid back from whence he started. honest English, (as we were all assembled By aid of sticks, bushes and branches, we at on the poop, anxious to see this island child,) tained the summit of the ridge, after much asking with a good-natured smile if he might scrambling. From this point we enjoyed a come on board. "Yes, certainly," was the most splendid view, the scene tropical, instant reply. So up he came over the gang- and quite picturesque. The cocoa-nut, palm, way, dripping wet, having been twice cap-bread-fruit, banyan, and a great variety of sized in the surf-and a fine athletic fellow he was; he shook hands with us all, was indeed glad to see us, having expected the man-of-war for a long time. He told us he was George Adams, the only son of John Adams, the last of the mutineers, who by a life of piety and repentance had tried to atone for the crimes he had committed, and who had by precept, as well as by example, wrought such a wonderful change in the habits and morals of the people, after the death of his fellow-mutineers.

Adams was scarcely on deck when his fragile bark followed him, the seamen handing the canoe in, as if she had been a small

other trees and shrubs, adorned the valleys or clothed the mountain side. A few bold peaks or bare lofty ridges formed a striking contrast with the universal scene of verdure and loveliness below. Our descent from this beautiful spot, though not so laborious, was quite as perilous, for the path being wet, there was a risk every moment of falling on our backs. We found our shoes here most inconvenient; the natives, wearing none, support themselves by sticking their toes into the ground. Some of our Middies did the same, and found the advantage of it. The whole distance was not great, but still we found it sufficiently fatiguing.

We were met by the greater part of the male inhabitants on the road (some of them were ill in bed). The boys also came out to meet us, they were generally good-looking, intelligent, and active.

Their mode of living is very simpletheir food being generally purely vegetable; cocoa-nut milk or water their only drink. They entertained us with goat's flesh, pork, and fowls. It was then I observed a barbaOn arriving at the village, the women and rous custom still existing in these islands, female children welcomed us very cordially, which is, that the women never take their and their appearance was more taking than meals with the men: the males sit down that of the other sex. The young married first, and, after they have finished, the fe women and girls were particularly interest-males take their places at the table. The ing. They become fairer each succeeding women alone performed the cooking busigeneration. The contrast between those of ness, which, though a simple, is a laborious, the first (not to mention two Otaheitan process: they also heed the firewood in the women still surviving) and the third generation now springing up, is very striking; and as they become fairer they also appear to become less athletic and robust.

The Doctor was soon in requisition, being taken from house to house to visit their sick; for we found one-fourth of the population suffering from influenza. They were much alarmed at it, thinking the disease not only dangerous but contagious. Our visit was, therefore, the more opportune, as it tended to allay these fears, and the medicine-chest presented to them was an acceptable gift, particularly at such a moment. We were all billeted for the night, each family taking some of us, and, though a large party, there was plenty of room. They made no distinction in their treatment of individuals; the Captain and one of the jolly-boat boys would meet with the same kindness and attention. There are no gradations of rank in this little society. They told us that they had heard of Peter's death, meaning Capt. Peter Heywood.

hills, carry it home on their backs, cut the leaves of the tea-plant, gather the breadfruit, yams, plantains, &c., kill the goats, and prepare the oven. This is done by placing in a hole in the ground, dug for this purpose, a number of stones, previously heated, over which are laid the leaves of the tea-plant, then the meat and vegetables, and over these another layer of leaves, then the remainder of the heated stones, over which more leaves are laid, and on the top of all a quantity of earth and decayed vegetables, stamped and pressed down with the feet, so as to allow no heat to escape: this process takes upwards of an hour, and the cooking produced is by no means to be despised: the kids dressed in this way were excellent, and the yams the best I ever tasted. The natives go lightly clad: the women with a single garment of calico, made long and loose like a night-gown, but carefully buttoned at the neck; all the children are decently covered. The men's clothes are made from the American flimsy cottons, which have nearly superseded the use of the native cloth called the "tapa," made from the bark of trees. The men alone use the needle; they even make the women's dresses; this expertness in tailoring, I suppose, they inherit as the decendants of sailors.

The visit of any ship, particularly of a man-of-war, is a remarkable and joyous event with them; and, if a sail is reported off the island, every man, woman, and child runs to the shore, leaving their work, forgetting their meals, and deserting their houses. The attention with which they It is a melancholy reflection to think of watched our actions, (dozens of them fol- the fate of the mutineers, and instructive to lowing us about from house to house,) and know that crime is generally punished in marked our words, showed their curiosity this world: it is also interesting to watch and simplicity of character. The men are the growth and progress of their progeny. not very communicative, and with the wo-Of the nine mutineers who conducted the men, excepting some of the elder ones, the greatest difficulty was experienced to get them to reply to the most simple questions. This arose from a natural shyness and diffidence felt before strangers; indeed, it would be difficult to touch upon any subject, not connected with themselves or the island, which could be interesting to them. Some of the officers, to enliven the monotony of the evening, played "Blind-man's buff," and "Hunt the slipper," which amused them exceedingly, as new and stirring games.

Bounty to this island, and by whom she was destroyed, in the cove now bearing her name, to prevent discovery, only one besides Adams died a natural death. Adams died in 1829, aged 65, and lies buried close to his Otaheitan wife, at the end of his son's house, formerly his own. Their early dissensions were caused by quarrels about the women, by drunkenness, (for they learned the art of distilling spirit from a native plant,) and by the tyranny practised over the Otaheitan men. Two of the Otaheitan women still