’Notwithstanding the roughness with which I was treated, the remembrance of past kindnesses produced some signs of remorse in Christian.  When they were forcing me out of the ship, I asked him if this treatment was a proper return for the many instances he had received of my friendship? he appeared disturbed at my question, and answered with much emotion, “That,—­Captain Bligh,—­that is the thing;—­I am in hell,—­I am in hell!”

’As soon as I had time to reflect, I felt an inward satisfaction, which prevented any depression of my spirits:  conscious of my integrity, and anxious solicitude for the good of the service in which I had been engaged, I found my mind wonderfully supported, and I began to conceive hopes, notwithstanding so heavy a calamity, that I should one day be able to account to my king and country for the misfortune.  A few hours before my situation had been peculiarly flattering.  I had a ship in the most perfect order, and well stored with every necessary both for service and health; by early attention to those particulars I had, as much as lay in my power, provided against any accident in case I could not get through Endeavour Straits, as well as against what might befall me in them; add to this, the plants had been successfully preserved in the most flourishing state:  so that, upon the whole, the voyage was two-thirds completed, and the remaining part, to all appearance, in a very promising way; every person on board being in perfect health, to establish which was ever amongst the principal objects of my attention.

’It will very naturally be asked, what could be the reason for such a revolt?  In answer to which I can only conjecture that the mutineers had flattered themselves with the hopes of a more happy life among the Otaheitans than they could possibly enjoy in England; and this, joined to some female connexions, most probably occasioned the whole transaction.  The ship, indeed, while within our sight, steered to the W.N.W., but I considered this only as a feint; for when we were sent away,—­“Huzza for Otaheite!”—­was frequently heard among the mutineers.

’The women of Otaheite are handsome, mild, and cheerful in their manners and conversation, possessed of great sensibility, and have sufficient delicacy to make them admired and beloved.  The chiefs were so much attached to our people, that they rather encouraged their stay among them than otherwise, and even made them promises of large possessions.  Under these and many other attendant circumstances, equally desirable, it is now perhaps not so much to be wondered at, though scarcely possible to have been foreseen, that a set of sailors, most of them void of connexions, should be led away; especially when, in addition to such powerful inducements, they imagined it in their power to fix themselves in the midst of plenty, on one of the finest islands in the world, where they need hot labour, and where the allurements of dissipation are beyond anything that can be conceived.  The utmost, however, that any commander could have supposed to have happened is, that some of the people would have been tempted to desert.  But if it should be asserted that a commander is to guard against an act of mutiny and piracy in his own ship, more than by the common rules of service, it is as much as to say that he must sleep locked up, and when awake, be girded with pistols.