were likewise brought on board, but no hogs. Some of the
sailing canoes, which arrived in the course of the day, were large
enough to contain not less than ninety passengers. From these the
officers and crew purchased hogs, dogs, fowls, and shaddocks; yams, very
fine and large; one of them actually weighed above forty-five pounds.
The crowd of natives had become so great the next day, Sunday 26th, that
it became impossible to do anything. The watering party were therefore
ordered to go on board, and it was determined to sail; the ship was
accordingly unmoored and got under weigh. A grapnel, however, had been
stolen, and Bligh informed the chiefs that were still on board, that
unless it was returned, they must remain in the ship, at which they were
surprised and not a little alarmed. 'I detained them,' he says, 'till
sunset, when their uneasiness and impatience increased to such a
degree, that they began to beat themselves about the face and eyes, and
some of them cried bitterly. As this distress was more than the grapnel
was worth, I could not think of detaining them longer, and called their
canoes alongside. I told them they were at liberty to go, and made each
of them a present of a hatchet, a saw, with some knives, gimlets, and
nails. This unexpected present, and the sudden change in their
situation, affected them not less with joy than they had before been
with apprehension. They were unbounded in their acknowledgements; and I
have little doubt but that we parted better friends than if the affair
had never happened.'

From this island the ship stood to the northward all night, with light
winds; and on the next day, the 27th, at noon, they were between the
islands Tofoa and Kotoo.

'Thus far,' says Bligh, 'the voyage had advanced in a course of
uninterrupted prosperity, and had been attended with many circumstances
equally pleasing and satisfactory. A very different scene was now to be
experienced. A conspiracy had been formed, which was to render all our
past labour productive only of extreme misery and distress. The means
had been concerted and prepared with so much secrecy and circumspection,
that no one circumstance appeared to occasion the smallest suspicion of
the impending calamity, the result of an act of piracy the most
consummate and atrocious that was probably ever committed.'

How far Bligh was justified in ascribing the calamity to a conspiracy
will be seen hereafter. The following chapter will detail