ficulty in apportioning the new possessions to which the
mutineers had served themselves heirs. In that free-and-easy mode in
which men in power sometimes arrange matters for their own special
behoof, they divided the island into nine equal parts, of which each
appropriated one part. The six native men were not only ignored in this
arrangement, but they were soon given to understand, by at least several
of their captors, that they were to be regarded as slaves and treated as
such.

It is, however, but just to Edward Young to say that he invariably
treated the natives well and was much liked by them, from which it is to
be supposed that he did not quite fall in with the views of his
associates, although he made no objection to the unjust distribution of
the land. John Adams, being an amiable and kindly man, also treated the
natives well, and so did Fletcher Christian; but the others were more or
less tyrannical, and those kindred spirits, Matthew Quintal and William
McCoy, treated them with great severity, sometimes with excessive
cruelty.

At first, however, things went well. The novelty and romance of their
situation kept them all in good spirits. The necessity for constant
activity in laying out their gardens, clearing the land around the place
of settlement, and erecting good log-houses,--all this, with fresh air
and abundance of good food, kept them in excellent health and spirits,
so that even the worst among them were for a time amiably disposed; and
it seemed as if those nine men had, by their act of mutiny, really
introduced themselves into a terrestrial paradise.

And so they had, as far as nature was concerned, but the seeds of evil
in themselves began ere long to grow and bear fruit.

The fear of the avenger in the form of a man-of-war was constantly
before their minds. We have said that the _Bounty_ had been burnt, and
her charred remnants sunk to remove all traces of their presence on the
island. For the same end a fringe of trees was left standing on the
seaward side of their clearing, and no erection of any kind was allowed
upon the seaward cliffs or inland heights.

One afternoon, Christian, who had been labouring in his garden, threw
down his tools, and taking up the musket which he seldom left far from
his hand, betook himself to the hills. He was fond of going there, and
often spent many hours in solitary watching in the cave near the
precipitous mountain-peak.

On his way up he had to