Christian, having become captain of the _Bounty_, took the vessel to the small island of Toubouai and then to Tahiti. There all the mutineers preferred to remain except Christian, Alexander Smith and seven others. These last took wives at Tahiti and six men as servants, and embarked and set sail. When Bligh and his associates reached England, much interest was manifested in his adventure, and the British Government took steps to apprehend the members of the _Bounty’s_ crew who had remained at Tahiti. A number of them were brought back to England and tried, and three of them were found guilty, and executed. We now return to the _Bounty_. Fletcher Christian belonged to an English family of repute and prominence. A brother was a learned man and a college professor. The design of Fletcher was to seek some island where he and his companions would be safe from discovery. Captain Cartaret, in 1767, discovered a solitary island in the Pacific Ocean between Australia and South America and named it Pitcairn after a midshipman who was the first to observe it. A copy of Captain Cartaret’s “Voyage to the South Seas” was among the books left on board the _Bounty_, and its description of this lovely island, it is thought, determined Christian to seek it as a probably safe retreat for himself and companions. Because of the want of correctness in the latitude and longitude, laid down by Cartaret in the charts, the cruise lasted several weeks. At last they sighted what was apparently a rock, rising high in the ocean. It was a welcome sight, although there was nothing to indicate that there was a beautiful interior with fertile valleys and mountain sides clothed with palms. The _Bounty_ was beached at a bend in the shore, which has ever since borne the name of “Bounty Bay.” On landing, Christian divided the island into nine portions, one for himself and the remainder for his companions. Then everything was removed from the vessel—planks from her sides, nails, bolts, masts, spars, sails, and her cargo of provisions, tools, guns, ammunition, implements, goats, pigs and hens. Then they set fire to the hull and it was completely burned up. Christian now became a changed man. He stocked a cave with water and provisions and would spend whole days there, evidently intending to make it his retreat in the event of pursuit and discovery, and, no doubt, indulging in bitter reflections. For three years all went well, and then trouble began when the whites endeavored to impose upon their native servants. A plot to kill all the white men was discovered by their wives, and thwarted. This plot was followed by another, which partially succeeded. Christian was shot dead, while cultivating his garden, and four of the other Englishmen were also despatched. The survivors, feeling that they were not secure from attacks, determined to destroy all the Tahitian men, and this purpose was carried into effect.