Found!

Pitcairn's 150-years-old Communal Wedding-ring

THIS is the quaint story of Pitcairn Island’s wedding ring.

Those who know about Pitcairn Island will remember that, for 18 years (from the time that the mutineers destroyed the “Bounty” at Pitcairn Island in 1790. until their descendants were discovered by the American ship “Topaz") this community was cut off from the world, and entirely self-contained; and it was left alone for 20 years after that.

In the first few years, the Pitcairn settlement was a kind of hell on earth.

Faction fights, drunkenness and murder were common occurrences. But, gradu ally, 14 of the original 15 men were killed or died; and there came a day when old John Adams found himself the only man on the island, head of a com munity of about a dozen Tahitian women, and a considerable number of children. That marked the opening of an era of godliness, which has continued ever since. Patriarch John Adams ruled with a battered Bible in one hand and a rod of iron in the other.

When Pitcairn Island was re-discov ered by the American sea-captain he reported the people as highly moral, and a model community, for which he gave the credit to John Adams.

THERE were no promiscuous unions.

Couples were properly married, in a ceremony in which the Bible played a conspicuous part. And. because it was done that way in the Old Country, the bridegroom had to nlace a wedding-ring upon the finger of his bride. Heaven knows where they got the ring; but there was only one ring available.

So. on Pitcairn Island, for two or three generations, that wedding-ring was a community affair. It remained in the custody of John Adams and, when a marriage had to be solemnised, it was produced and placed upon the finger of the bride. She wore it for a brief time; and then it went back into custody, to await its next victim.

Time passed. John Adams died. People from the outside world came into Pit cairn—and with them, along with the minor horrors of civilisation, came wed ding-rings. The community wedding ring was mislaid, or forgotten. At any rate, it disappeared.

A CENTURY later, about 1938-39, Mr.

H. E. Maude, one of the best-known and popular officers in the service of the High Commissioner for the West ern Pacific, was sent to Pitcairn Island, to drnw up a code of laws and an ad ministrative organisation for the island, now coming under the control of the Commission. He took his wife with him and thoroughly enjoved his stav among the simple, kindly, hospitable islanders.

One day, Mrs. Maude was turning over some old-fashioned things she had found, and she came upon a queer old ring. Tt was recognised with excitement and delierht. as the old communal wedding ring of the reign of John Adams.

The islanders held a meeting; they decided that they were very fond of Mr. and Mrs. Maude; and they formally gave it to her as a token of their regard and esteem.

It was a unioue gift; and Mr. Maude now is a unioue husband. He is the onlv man in civilisation who can claim that he has a wife who is married to a Pacific island. She bears unon her hand the wedding-ring, in proof of it,