Posted on 08/13/2004 1:50:05 AM PDT by ValerieUSA
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Descendants of English mutineers living on remote Pitcairn Island in the South Pacific have been ordered to surrender their guns amid fears that a trial for alleged child sex offences could lead to violence.
Tiny Pitcairn has a population of 45 people, who have about 20 guns between them. The deadline for them to surrender their weapons is Sept. 7.
The island's governor, the British high commissioner in New Zealand, has ordered that the weapons be handed in to the British colony's two policemen, a commission spokesman said on Wednesday.
"We thought it prudent to take the guns out of the community when emotions could be running high," the spokesman told Reuters.
He said there was a more general safety risk because the island's population will swell by about 25 during the trial.
"There is the possibility of them wandering into shot when somebody is hunting. The island is not all that big and it is covered in vegetation and the potential for an accident is very real," the spokesman said.
Seven Pitcairn Island men, descendants of 18th century mutineers who rebelled against Captain William Bligh aboard the Bounty, face a total of 96 sex charges, some dating back more than 40 years. The trial is due to start on September 23.
The men are charged with having sex with under-age girls. British law forbids having sex with a girl under 16.
Pitcairn islanders say they have a tradition dating back to Fletcher Christian and his mutineers, who had numerous Tahitian wives, whereby they had consensual sex with island girls.
Pitcairn is a rocky island of some two square miles lying about halfway between New Zealand and Panama. It has no airstrip, no safe anchorage and can only be reached by surf boats landing on a rocky cove.
The British government plans to ship in police, a jail and court officials for a trial expected to last for about six weeks.
Pitcairn people are mostly English with some Tahitian blood. I'm willing to bet that this problem is one that never went away esp. when women outnumber men on an island *lol*
Pitcairn islanders say they have a tradition dating back to Fletcher Christian and his mutineers, who had numerous Tahitian wives, whereby they had consensual sex with island girls.
With a poulation of 45, you just know there is a rather shallow gene pool.
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/pc.html#People
I'd say makes a fine study of inbreeding and genetic diseases.
I spent way too much time at that link! Interesting....
I would like to visit there just to take a looksee.
I wonder why only forty five residents? Now I simply have to find out *LOL*
ping
It is a very small island. The mutineers arrived with 27 adults and they are reported to have felt crowded.
Not condoning anything here, just sort of answering your question..
The "island-hopping" you refer to is a true south seas custom that goes back probably 1,000 years, maybe more..
The problem of inbreeding on islands led to a practice of young men travelling by sea to all the neighboring islands they could realistically reach..
Dressed in traditional garb, so as not to be confused with a raiding party, and unarmed, they would come to each island with the express intention of having sex with any female that wasn't pregnant..
They were considered honored guests..
Custom was that the female should be old enough to have passed puberty, and capable of getting pregnant..
It was also custom that no such female, ( or member of the tribe ) object to the traditional "couplings"...
In fact, females that became pregnant were looked upon with favor, as were their children...
They brought "new blood" to the island, which reduced the incidence of birth defects, still births, etc..
It was NOT pedophilia in the context that we know, although the description I read noted a "visitor" had sex with an under-age girl.
It was pointed out that this behaviour was frowned upon, but tradition and hospitality prevented interference..
It was also inferred that the violator of custom would probably end up "taboo" within his own tribe for quite some time as punishment.
In other words, he got away with it, but the subsequent "shunning" he would recieve for the next few years would make him regret his actions.. and serve as an example to others..
This practice declined as modern travel made it possible for people to interact with the other islands easier..
The custom had practically died out as much as 50 years ago, but was known to happen in some of the more remote regions of the South Pacific..and some of these cases go back 40 years.. not too much of a stretch of the imagination there..
Just guessing on the rest of your question, probably not their daughters, but possibly related if on the same island.. possibly distantly related if on a nearby island..
They may have been "trading" daughters..
As for their heritage, they are probably more polynesian than anything, after several generations..
One of the gals is wearing a Perot shirt.
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