(Signed) T.STAINES.' Such was the first official account received of this little colony.

As some further particulars of a society so singular, in all respects, were highly desirable, Captain Pipon, on being applied to, had the kindness to draw up the following narrative, which has all the freshness and attraction of a first communication with a new people.
Captain Pipon takes a more extended view, in his private letter,[37] of the condition of this little society.

He observes, that when they first saw the island, the latitude, made by the _Tagus_, was 24 deg.

40' S.and longitude 130 deg.

24' W., the ships being then distant from it five or six leagues; and, as in none of the charts in their possession was any land laid down in or near this meridian, they were extremely puzzled to make out what island it could possibly be; for Pitcairn's Island, being the only one known in the neighbourhood, was represented to be in longitude 133 deg.