ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE. Pitcairn Island Frontispiece Fletcher Christian’s Birthplace 17 Lieut. Bligh’s Gourd, Cup, Bullet Weight, and Book 20 The Landing Place,—Bounty Bay 27 Bounty Bay from the Cliffs 37 Thursday October Christian 42 Path through Cocoanut Grove 47 Figures Cut in the Rocks at the Rope 49 Morinda Citrifolia 51 The Chapel 57 Group of Island Maidens 62 Rosa, William, John, and Sarah Young 69 Pitcairn Avenue 79 Group of Native Men 89 The Island Sawmill 99 Parliament of Pitcairn Island 109 Group of Native Children 123 The _Pitcairn_ and Man-of-War off Pitcairn Island 129 Family Group of Natives 138 Breadfruit 148 Children and Wheelbarrow 152 Point Lookout 156 Group of Young Men 160 Simon Young and Wife 175 The Mission House 193 Group of Women and Children 207 Girls in Bathing Costume 217 Hattie Andre’s Class 231 Rosa Young’s Class 245 [Illustration] CHAPTER I. The Bounty and the Mutineers TOWARD the close of the eighteenth century, at a time when events producing the most important results were occurring among some of the nations of the earth, there was being laid, unconsciously, the foundation of a history which in all its points could equal, if not surpass, any tale of fiction. During the reign of King George Third, of England, the English Government considered it advisable to introduce, if possible, the breadfruit into her colonies in the West Indies, and for this purpose a ship was specially fitted out and provisioned. A small sloop-of-war, named the _Bounty_, was the one provided, and her internal arrangements were begun and completed with the view of transferring, with the least possible injury, the tender plants from their native soil.