In consequence of a representation, made by Captain Beechey when there, of the distressed state of this little society, with regard to the want of certain necessary articles, his Majesty’s government sent out to Valparaiso, to be conveyed from thence for their use, a proportion for sixty persons of the following articles:  sailors’ blue jackets and trousers, flannel waistcoats, pairs of stockings and shoes, women’s dresses, spades, mattocks, shovels, pickaxes, trowels, rakes; all of which were taken in his Majesty’s ship Seringapatam, commanded by Captain the Hon. William Waldegrave, who arrived there in March 1830.

The ship had scarcely anchored when George Young was alongside in his canoe, which he guided by a paddle; and soon after Thursday October Christian, in a jolly-boat, with several others, who, having come on board, were invited to breakfast, and one of them said grace as usual both before and after it.  The captain, the chaplain, and some other officers accompanied these natives on shore, and having reached the summit of the first level or plain, which is surrounded by a grove or screen of cocoa-nut trees, they found the wives and mothers assembled to receive them.  ‘I have brought you a clergyman,’ says the captain.  ’God bless you,’ issued from every mouth; ’but is he come to stay with us?’—­’No.’  ’You bad man, why not?’—­’I cannot spare him, he is the chaplain of my ship; but I have brought you clothes and other articles, which King George has sent you.’  ‘But,’ says Kitty Quintal, ’we want food for our souls.’

‘Our reception,’ says Captain Waldegrave, ’was most cordial, particularly that of Mr. Watson, the chaplain; and the meeting of the wives and husbands most affecting, exchanging expressions of joy that could not have been exceeded had they just returned from a long absence.  The men sprang up to the trees, throwing down cocoa-nuts, the husks of which were torn off by others with their teeth, and offering us the milk.  As soon as we had rested ourselves, they took us to their cottages, where we dined and slept.’

Captain Waldegrave says it was highly gratifying to observe their native simplicity of manners, apparently without guile:  their hospitality was unbounded, their cottages being open to all, and all were welcome to such food as they possessed; pigs and fowls were immediately killed and dressed, and when the guests were seated, one of the islanders, in the attitude of prayer, and his eyes raised towards heaven, repeated a simple grace for the present food they were about to partake of, beseeching, at the same time, spiritual nourishment; at the end of which each responded amen.  On the arrival of any one during the repast, they all paused until the new guest had said grace.