“‘Ship _Topaz_, of Boston, Mayhew Folger master, on a sealing voyage to the South Pacific Ocean, 1808. “‘Saturday, 6th February.—First part light airs at east, steering west by south, half south by compass. At ½ past on P. M. saw land bearing southwest by west half west. Steered for the land with a light breeze at east, the said land being Pitcairn’s Island, discovered in 1767 by Captain Cartaret in his Britannic Majesty’s sloop _Swallow_. A 2 A. M. the isle bore south two leagues distant. Lay off and on till daylight. At 6 A. M. put off with two boats to explore and look for seals. [Illustration: BOUNTY BAY FROM THE CLIFFS.] “‘On approaching the shore saw a smoke on the land, at which I was very much surprised, it being represented by Captain Cartaret as destitute of inhabitants. “‘On approaching still nearer the land, I discovered a boat paddling towards me with three men in her. On approaching her, they hailed me in the English language, asking who was the captain of the ship, and offered me a number of cocoanuts, which they had brought off as a present, and requested I would land, there being, as they said, a white man on shore. “‘I went on shore and found there an Englishman by the name of Alexander Smith, the only person remaining out of nine that escaped on board the ship _Bounty_, Captain Bligh, under the command of that arch-mutineer, Christian. Smith informed me that, after putting Captain Bligh in the longboat and sending her adrift, Commander Christian proceeded to Otaheite. There all the mutineers chose to stop except Christian himself, Smith, and seven others. They all took wives at Otaheite, and six men as servants, and proceeded to Pitcairn’s Island, where they landed all their goods and chattels, ran the ship _Bounty_ on shore, and broke her up, which took place, as near as he could recollect, in 1790. Soon after, one of their party ran mad and drowned himself; another died with a fever, and after they had remained about four years on the island, their men servants rose upon them and killed six of them, leaving only Smith alive, and he desperately wounded, with a pistol ball in the neck. However, he and the widows of the deceased arose and put all the servants to death, which left him the only surviving man on the island, with eight or nine women and several small children. He immediately went to work tilling the ground, so that it produces plenty for them all, and he lives very comfortably as commander-in-chief of Pitcairn’s Island.[3] [Footnote 3: There is a little difference between Captain Folger’s statement and the real facts of those early days, as handed down through succeeding generations, from those (especially Susanna, the girl of fifteen from Tahiti) who were eye-witnesses of the dreadful scenes that took place, when bloodshed followed treachery in their dealings between master and servant.]