Day 9

Loading containers

Simon had to be at the landing again to help load the empty cargo containers back on the Claymore.  I went with him because I wanted to see the process, but I stopped at The Edge for a good view of the whole process.  A crane loaded the containers onto the longboat one by one.  There were twelve containers, but the longboat could hold four only, so three trips to the Claymore were needed.

It was pouring rain when I walked home, and not only was I soaking wet, but my legs were covered in mud.

After taking a shower, I walked to the school to observe the culture class that occurs every Friday.  Possum, Snowy, Robert, and Terry were also there to observe.  Meralda and John the police officer were both sitting at the front of the classroom with their guitars.  All of the children were sitting on the couches with song booklets.  It was time to sing Pitcairn songs, mostly written by Meralda.

The songs were either about Pitcairn history or current Pitcairn culture.  We sang a song called Mussa es the Same, which is about how the culture on Pitcairn is mostly the same as that on Norfolk Island.  We sang a song called Balley se Buss, which is about the fruit on Pitcairn.  We sang a song called The Cause, which is about the mutiny on the Bounty and the founding of Pitcairn.  We sang a song called Rat Pile Pitcairn Island, which is about the rat eradication that occurred on Pitcairn.

My favorite song is The Cause because it retells the legendary story that lured me to Pitcairn.  Here are the words:

From the docks of old England, across the sea Bligh sailed

with his Bounty crew, to Tahiti for a load of breadfruit

The girls with their long hair, Greet the crew with tender care

In canoes they paddled out, King Hiti Hiti with all his royal tribe

The Uru grows high on a tree, A fruit that caused the Bounty mutiny

Without it our history is just ordinary, fire still burns strong after the Bounty

That's how the mutiny started, Christian took the ship

Young, Quintal, Adams, McCoy, they all told Bligh's pile to get out quick

The rebels and Tahitians, Thought Pitcairn was the place

Conflict quickly brewed, The population dwindled to a few

The Uru grows high on a tree, A fruit that caused the Bounty mutiny

Without it our history is just ordinary, fire still burns strong after the Bounty

Adams survived the kill, became a preacher man

The children multiplied, Pitcairn became too small to feed them all

Tahiti wasn't right, Norfolk Isle was it

In 1856, The Pitcairn islanders had to make the trip

The Uru grows high on a tree, A fruit that caused the Bounty mutiny

Without it our history is just ordinary, fire still burns strong after the Bounty

After singing, the younger children had a ukulele lesson with Meralda, and the older children had a guitar lesson with John.  I observed the ukulele lesson, and Cushana tried to teach me how to play.  I wasn't very good.

After the ukulele and guitar lessons, we played a game called Pitch.  There are two teams, and players from each team toss shells at a post and try to get as close possible.  The player with the closest shell then "rolls" the shells and scores a point for each shell that is face up.  The player with the next closest shell then "rolls" the remaining unscored shells and gets a point for each shell that is face up.  So on and so forth.  Supposedly this game was played by the early Pitcairners.

John Adams' grave

This concluded the culture class, and I went home for lunch.  After lunch, I visited John Adams' grave.  Both his Tahitian wife and daughter are buried next to him.  The graves are located where his house used to be.

After leaving the grave, I saw Dave Brown and his son-in-law cutting down some trees by the roadside.  I asked them what they were doing, and they told me that they were gathering wood to carve bowls to sell on the cruise ships.  They had planted those trees, so they were free to cut them down.

I played more Scrabble with Simon.