95 



miles away; and that, judged by its poetical merits, the poem can hardly 

 be said to be worthy of Byron's genius. Morrison closes a minute and 

 most interesting description of the island, from every point of view, with 

 the words, " Such is the best account I have been able to collect of 

 Otaheite and its inhabitants, who are without any doubt the happiest on 

 the face of the globe." But the Arcadian pleasures of Morrison and his 

 companions were at length rudely interrupted by the appearance of the 

 "Pandora" upon the scene, and all of them either surrendered themselves 

 to Captain Edwards or were quickly captured. They were at once put 

 in irons, and from that day till the arrival of the survivors in England, 

 they were treated by Captain Edwards with a cruelty and malignity for 

 which there was no excuse in the case of men who had at the worst been 

 only guilty of a passive share in the mutiny. It is impossible to read of 

 their sufferings without indignation, and without being forced to the 

 conclusion that if Commanders like Bligh and Edwards were fair speci- 

 mens of their profession, the wonder is, not that this mutiny should have 

 happened, but that mutiny was not more frequent and more fatal in the 

 British Navy. Morrison relates with much pathos the terrible grief of 

 their native wives at the loss of their husbands. He says it would have 

 melted a heart of stone. When these hapless women, with their infants, 

 attempted to get on board to reach the prisoners, and were driven away 

 by the captain's orders, they sailed round the ship in canoes for many 

 days and nights, making heart-rending lamentations, and lacerating their 

 heads and bodies, in accordance with the native rites of mourning, until 

 the sea was reddened with their blood. They could not have shown 

 more fidelity and devotion to their quasi-husbands if they had been 

 married after the latest and most approved fashion in Westminster 

 Abbey. 



For the next few months the " Pandora" sailed about among the 

 Pacific Islands, in a vain search for the "Bounty." All this time the 

 mutineers were cooped up in a small wooden hut on deck, which 

 Morrison with a touch of his dry humour christened " Pandora's box," 

 and which had only a small hole or "scutde" at the top for ingress and 

 egress. The heat of the place was so intense, and it was so over-run 



