A HISTORY OF TAHITI 125 



ing a fort at Tubuai, digging himself within the moat which encircled 

 the parapet with a depth of 20 feet. But control the innate passions 

 of his ruffian associates, he could not. Their brutal disregard for 

 human rights brought on a war of extermination between the natives 

 and the whites in which Christian himself was severely wounded. 

 Finally, despairing of the impossible task of restoring order, he yielded 

 to the murmurs of his men and returned once more to Tahiti. 



Here, late in September, 1789, the Bounty anchored for the last 

 time and most of her crew deserted to plunge into the riotous pastimes 

 of the shore, while Christian with eight comrades remained on board. 

 Twenty natives, men and women, joined them, and then early in the 

 morning of September 23, Tahiti awakened to watch the Bounty fade 

 from sight beneath the northern horizon. 



The expected came to pass, for on March 23, 1791, the British 

 frigate Pandora bore down upon Tahiti and those who survived among 

 the mutineers became captives chained to her decks beneath the torrid 

 sun. 



But where was Christian and the Bounty? For three months the 

 avenging Pandora searched in vain, for, like the fate of La Perouse, that 

 of the Bounty had become but one more mystery of the Pacific. 



Yet there was intelligent method in Christian's leadership. He 

 knew that one day upon Carteret's voyage in 1767 a young midshipman 

 named Pitcairn had seen from the masthead something which appeared 

 to be a barren rock projecting high above the sea, and Captain Carteret 

 had named it " Pitcairn Island." Three weeks Christian spent search- 

 ing for this isolated land, and at last when almost in despair he found 

 it nearly 180 miles from the longitude assigned by Carteret, but all the 

 safer for a last retreat. 



Lost in the vast ocean, far from the paths of man no spot in all the 

 island world was more remote than this tiny islet with its sheer preci- 

 pices frowning down from eleven hundred feet upon the sea, while back 

 of the volcanic walls concealed from the view of ships, there lay a valley 

 rich in palms and tropic trees. A slight indentation in the bold and 

 unprotected shore marked the last anchorage for the fated Bounty ere 

 they sank her far from sight beneath the sea. 



Christian divided the island into nine parts assigning one to each 

 of his men and to himself, while the natives became wives and servants 

 to the whites. 



And Christian who had fled from all, now fell under the sad shadow 

 of his thoughts. Long hours he brooded sullen and alone within a cave 

 that looked upon the sea and here he read his Bible through and through, 

 yet what availed a mumbled creed to one whose life was blasted such as 

 his ! A worthy servant of his king and country, he might have been but 

 for a moment's work conceived in rage. All romance of his wild career 



