wives of the Tahitians, and ten other Tahitian women and a child.

The _Bounty_ was beached and burnt, and from her remains and the island
timber the mutineers built themselves homes. Soon dissensions arose,
murder followed, and within a few years after landing every Englishman
save Smith was dead, nearly all of them dying violent deaths. Smith
changed his name to John Adams, took a Bible from the _Bounty's_ library
as his guide, and set to work to govern and to train his colony of
half-caste children.

From 1815 Pitcairn became a pet colony of the English people, and every
ship that visited it brought back stories of the piety and beautiful
character of its population. Smith or Adams died in 1829. He had long
before been pardoned by the English Government, and [Sidenote: 1829]
the good work he began was carried on by Mr. Nobbs, one of several persons
who from time to time, attracted by the story of life at Pitcairn, had
managed to make their way to the island.

In 1856 the greater portion of the Pitcairn families were removed to
Norfolk Island, which the English Government had abandoned as a penal
settlement, giving up to them all the prison buildings as a new home.

For years after, Norfolk Island, like Pitcairn, was known as the home of
the descendants of the _Bounty_ mutineers, and was talked of all over the
world in the same strain as that other ideal community at Pitcairn, but
civilization has now worked its evil ways. No longer is Norfolk Island
governed in patriarchal fashion. It has been handed over by the Imperial
Government for administration by the colony of New South Wales, and in a
few years longer all that will remain of its _Bounty_ story will be the
names of Christian, Young, McCoy, Quintall, and the rest of them--still
names which indicate the "best families" of the island.

To this day it is a mystery exactly how and when Christian met his death.
The sole survivor of the mutineers, Smith (_alias_ Adams), when
questioned, went into details regarding the desperate quarrels of his
comrades, and how they came by violent deaths; but whether his memory,
owing to old age, had failed him, or he had something to conceal, it is
impossible now to say. However, he gave versions of Christian's death
which differed materially. The generally accepted one is that he was shot
by one of the Tahitians while working in the garden, but the exact place
of his burial has never been revealed.

In this connection