122 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



the inquisition. It was the tropic heat, the infection of the mosquito- 

 haunted swamp, and the demoralizing contact with tropical populations 

 that conquered Spain, not the fleets of the English, for it was years 

 after the tragedy of her great Aramada that Spain's greatest things in 

 art and literature appeared. 



Indeed, England herself narrowly escaped the same fate which would 

 have been hers also had she succeeded in supplanting the Spaniard on 

 the mainland of tropical America. Unable to accomplish this, she was 

 perforce obliged to colonize in the neglected north, and the bleak shores 

 that gave her first adventurers so inhospitable a welcome in time became 

 centers of civilization, advancing her culture and her empire over 

 the sea. 



Cook returned to Tahiti in 1773 and again for the last time in 1777, 

 and then for eleven years the Island saw no European vessels until 

 October, 1788, when the cry "Ephai! ephai!!" (A ship, a ship!!) 

 echoed along the rocky shores. It was the Bounty under Lieutenant 

 William Bligh, K. N"., and her mission was to gather young bread-fruit 

 trees in order to introduce this coveted plant into the British West 

 Indies. 



Bligh, although a brave and efficient navigator, made himself odious 

 to both his officers and his men, his conduct being that of an irritable, 

 selfish, suspicious tyrant, and much as his men feared him, they hated 

 him even more. 



Yet for nearly six months, during which the sliip lay moored in 

 Matavai Bay, there was solace for her crew in the wanton pleasures of 

 the tropic isle, and when on the 4th of April, 1789, the anchor rose for 

 the Bounty's last farewell, many a heart was aching under the sailor's 

 blouse and many a dark-eyed maiden watched weeping from the shore. 



If Bligh's ugly temper had been trying in the past, it became even 

 more annoying after he left Tahiti. On the 27th of April when off the 

 Tongan Islands, he burst forth into a tirade of abuse, unjustly accusing 

 his officers, and especially his first mate, Mr. Christian, of petty thefts 

 of food. 



Throughout the night the Bounty lay upon a calm and glassy sea, 

 her sails flapping to the long, low, ceaseless heave of the Pacific, and 

 young Christian, burning under his wrongs, paced hotly on his watch 

 while the ship and all on board lay sleeping. 



In the gray of the listless morning before the glaring eastern sun 

 had shown upon the sea, his resolve was taken and the die of Britain's 

 most noted mutiny was cast. Hastening to the forecastle his word was 

 as a spark to gunpowder to the repressed spirits of the crew. Amid 

 deep muttered cursings, the gun chest was torn apart, and Bligh awak- 

 ened to be led upon deck, his hands tied behind his back. The ship was 

 in dire disorder with mutineer sentinels standing before the cabin doors 



