or something more. The fact is, that information was
given to Edwards, at least he so asserts, by the brother of the King of
Otaheite, an intelligent chief, that a conspiracy was formed among the
natives to cut the ship's cables the first strong wind that should blow
on the shore, which was considered to be the more probable, as many of
the prisoners were said to be married to the most respectable chiefs'
daughters in the district opposite to the anchorage; that the midshipman
Stewart, in particular, had married the daughter of a man of great
landed property near Matavai Bay. This intelligence, no doubt, weighed
with the Captain in giving his orders for the close confinement of the
prisoners; and particularly in restricting the visits of the natives;
but so far is it from being true that all communication between the
mutineers and the natives was cut off, that we are distinctly told by
Mr. Hamilton, that 'the prisoners' wives visited the ship daily, and
brought their children, who were permitted to be carried to their
unhappy fathers. To see the poor captives in irons,' he says, 'weeping
over their tender offspring, was too moving a scene for any feeling
heart, Their wives brought them ample supplies of every delicacy that
the country afforded, while we lay there, and behaved with the greatest
fidelity and affection to them.'[15]

Of the fidelity and attachment of these simple-minded creatures an
instance is afforded in the affecting story which is told, in the first
_Missionary Voyage of the Duff_, of the unfortunate wife of the reputed
mutineer Mr. Stewart. It would seem also to exonerate Edwards from some
part of the charges which have been brought against him.

'The history of Peggy Stewart marks a tenderness of heart that never
will be heard without emotion: she was the daughter of a chief, and
taken for his wife by Mr. Stewart, one of the unhappy mutineers. They
had lived with the old chief in the most tender state of endearment; a
beautiful little girl had been the fruit of their union, and was at the
breast when the _Pandora_ arrived, seized the criminals, and secured
them in irons on board the ship. Frantic with grief, the unhappy Peggy
(for so he had named her) flew with her infant in a canoe to the arms of
her husband. The interview was so affecting and afflicting, that the
officers on board were overwhelmed with anguish, and Stewart himself,
unable to bear the heartrending scene, begged she might not be admi