22 AMUSEMENTS ON BOARD THE BOUNTY. 
said Bligh, " to say that he kept his attendant 
constantly employed. There was, indeed, little 
reason to complain of want of appetite in any 
of my guests. As the women are not allowed 
to eat in presence of the men, his wife, Iddeah, 
dined with some of her companions about an 
hour afterwards, in private, except that her 
husband favoured them with his company, and 
seemed to have entirely forgotten that he had 
already dined! " 
The natives were, one day, much delighted 
with the spectacle of a female figure, which was 
gaily dressed up, and carried about the deck of 
the Bounty. This object they at first mistook 
for a living person ; but it consisted of a stick 
covered with a quantity of cloth, surmounted by 
a painted head, which had formerly been in a 
hairdresser's shop-window, having been brought 
by the ship's barber from London. 
Bligh's description of this scene is as good as 
a picture : " It having been reported to the 
natives that we had an English woman on board, 
the quarter-deck was cleared of the crowd, that 
she might make her appearance. Being handed 
up the ladder, and carried to the after part of 
the deck, there was a general shout of 'Huaheine 
no Pretanie myty ! ' Huaheine signifies woman, 
and myty, good. Many of them thought it was 
living, and asked if it was my wife. One old 
woman ran with presents of cloth and bread- 
fruit, and laid them at her feet. At last they 
found out the cheat, but continued all delighted 
with it, except the old lady, who felt herself 
mortified, and took back her presents, for which 
