to addressing their men in the manner of a lady with a pet
canary. Had Bligh's language been the head and front of his offending, he
would hardly have shocked an eighteenth century fo'c'sle. But his
disposition does not seem to have bound men to him. He generated dislike.
Nevertheless it is credible that the explanation which he gave goes far
to explain the mutiny. He held that the real cause was a species of
sensuous intoxication which had corrupted his crew.

"The women of Tahiti," Bligh wrote, "are handsome, mild and cheerful in
their manners and conversation, possessed of great sensibility, and have
sufficient delicacy to make them admired and loved. 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 other attendant circumstances equally desirable, it is
perhaps not so much to be wondered at, though scarcely possible to have
been foreseen, that a set of sailors, many of them void of connections,
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 not labour, and where the allurements of dissipation are beyond
anything that can be conceived...Had their mutiny been occasioned by any
grievance, either real or imaginary, I must have discovered symptoms of
their discontent, which would have put me on my guard; but the case was
far otherwise. Christian in particular I was on the most friendly terms
with; that very day he was engaged to have dined with me; and the
preceding night he excused himself from supping with me on pretence of
being unwell, for which I felt concerned, having no suspicions of his
integrity and honour."

Support is given to Bligh's explanation by a statement alleged to have
been made by Fletcher Christian a few years later, the genuineness of
which, however, is open to serious question. If it could be accepted,
Christian acquitted his commander of having contributed to the mutiny by
harsh conduct. He ascribed the occurrence "to the strong predilection we
had contracted for living in Tahiti, where, exclusive of the happy
disposition of the inhabitants, the mildness of the climate, and the
fertility of the soil, we had formed certain tender connections which
banished the remembrance of old England from our breasts." The wei