FROM THE MUTINY TO PITCAIRN ISLAND—MAUDE bot 
Return to Tahiti—While there was plenty of coconut, breadfruit, 
and banana trees, as well as taro, on Tubuai, no livestock could be 
found, and this determined Christian to press on to Tahiti immedi- 
ately to procure a cargo of pigs, goats, and chickens, together with 
some women as companions and men to assist in raising crops and act 
as interpreters with the local population: even Christian’s knowledge 
of Tahitian had proved insufficient for effective communication, and 
the others spoke hardly a word. 
Despite the evidence of Fryer (Rutter, 1931, pp. 32-33) that only 
Stewart and Morrison (and of Adams to Beechey [Beechey, 1831, 
vol. 1, p. 72] that only Quintal) had any serious feminine attach- 
ments at Tahiti, it is clear that virtually every member of the 
Bounty’s crew, officers as well as men, had contracted some sort of 
alliance with a Tahitian ¢azo, or friend. And if Christian was busy 
with the over-all plan of settlement, Adams, in a statement made just 
before his death to Moerenhout, indicates what was uppermost in the 
minds of most of the rest: “We lacked women; and, remembering 
Tahiti, where all of us had made intimate friendships, we decided to 
return there, so that we could each obtain one” (Moerenhout, 1837, 
vol. 2, p. 289). 
Leaving Tubuai on May 31, the Bounty anchored in Matavai Bay 
on June 6, where everyone seemed glad to see them back and evinced 
little curiosity as to the reason for their unexpected return. To those 
who inquired, Christian explained that they had met Captain Cook, 
who had taken Bligh and the others with the breadfruit plants and 
sent him back to obtain a supply of animals to stock a settlement 
which he was making on Aitutaki (which he described as being in 
New Holland!) : Bligh had fortunately forbidden his crew to mention 
Cook’s death, as had Watts before him. 
This story apparently satisfied everybody and, business being brisk, 
by June 16 Christian had obtained some 460 pigs, 50 goats, and a 
number of chickens; together with a bull and a cow left by Cook, and 
a few dogs and cats for good measure. About 28 Tahitians® also 
accompanied the expedition, most of them stowaways who only ap- 
peared when it was too late to return them ashore. Among them was 
Hitihiti, a young chief from Borabora, and an expert shot, who had 
sailed with Cook to Tonga, New Zealand, the Antarctic, and the 
Marquesas in 1773-1774.1° No one seemed worried when told that 
they would never see Tahiti again. 
In addition, there were consorts for several of the Kuropeans— 
Mauatea (Isabella) with Fletcher Christian, Teehuteatuaonoa 
® According to Adams; Morrison’s figure {s 9 men, 10 women, 8 boys and a girl. 
10 Hitihiti, an insatiable traveler, was later to accompany Bligh on his second expedi- 
tion in the Providence, having been engaged to assist the botanist in taking care of the 
breadfruit (Henry, 1928, pp. 27, 31). 
