etcher Christian, the
unfortunate leader of the mutiny that subsequently occurred, was the
only one of all the ship's company who was a match for Upaparu in these
athletic encounters, and until thirty years ago there remained a song
that recounted how the unfortunate and wronged master's mate of the
_Bounty_ and the young chief of Taiarapu once wrestled for half an hour
without either yielding an inch, though "the ground shook and quivered
beneath the stamping and the pressing of their feet." And although
twenty-three years had passed since Upaparu had seen the barque sail
away from Tahiti for the last time, when Christian and his fated
comrades bade the people farewell for ever, the native chief was still,
despite his fifty years, a man of amazing strength, iron resolution, and
dauntless courage.

The voyage from the fertile and beautiful Society Islands to the low,
sandy atolls of the Dangerous Archipelago was a pleasant one; for not
only was the weather delightfully fine, but there prevailed on board a
spirit of harmony and comradeship among Captain Shelley, his officers,
and crew, that was not often seen. A brave and humane man himself, the
master of the _Queen Charlotte_ was particularly fortunate in having
for his first and second officers two young men of similar dispositions.
This was their second voyage among the islands of the Society and
Dangerous Archipelago Islands; and their kindness to the natives with
whom they had come into contact, their freedom from the degrading
licentiousness that, as a rule, marked the conduct of seamen associating
with the natives, and the almost brotherly regard that they evinced for
each other made them not only respected, but loved and admired by whites
and natives alike. Both were men of fine stature and great strength;
and, indeed, Upaparu one day jestingly remarked that he and Captain
Shelley's two officers were a match for three times their number.

For some eight or nine days the _Queen Charlotte_ beat steadily to the
eastward against the gentle southeast trades, which, at that time of the
year, blew so softly as to raise scarce more than tiny ripples upon the
bosom of the ocean. Then, one day, there appeared against the horizon
the faint outline of a line of coco-trees springing from the ocean,
and by and by a white gleam of beach showed at their base as the vessel
lifted to the long ocean swell, and then sank again from view; but up
aloft on the brigantine's foreyard, t