THE MUTINY. 21 
The reader will observe that the word, 
Otaheite, is here used, as spelt by Captain 
Cook. It is now often printed, Tahiti. In 
pronouncing it, the natives are accustomed 
first to draw in their breath : hence the sound 
as of a vowel at the beginning of the word. 
On the arrival of the Bounty off Tofoa, 
one of the Friendly Islands, on the 28th of 
April, 1 789, a dreadful mutiny broke out 
among some of the ship's officers and men, 
with Fletcher Christian, the master's mate, 
at their head. He was of a respectable 
family in the north of England, a young 
man of talent in his profession, twenty-four 
years of age, and of a quick and daring spirit. 
It is very difficult, at this distance of time, 
to judge of the real motive or motives which 
actuated these men in their evil design. 
Indeed, at the period of the mutiny, the 
object which the leaders had in view could 
only be conjectured. Bligh gave it as his 
opinion, that they had flattered themselves 
with the hope of returning to Otaheite, 
and again leading the agreeable kind of life 
which they had passed in that island. 
It was alleged on the other hand, that, 
