Mutiny of the Bounty and Story of Pitcairn Island , originally published in 1894, is the story of the Pitcairn Island, beginning with a mutiny, then a small hideaway plagued by violence and alcoholism, to a thriving community. This history was written by Rosalind Amelia Young (1853-1924), a great granddaughter of the original settlers of the island who lived on the island and was part of its community. Mutiny of the Bounty and Story of Pitcairn Island is a story about how family intertwines with community, how community intertwines with place, and how important home is. It also shows how humans build can build a community from nothing. This book was written at an interesting time in the island's history - the original mutineers had died, but their memory was not far gone, Victorian British values made their way to the island, and islanders were simultaneously living in a modern western world and a world where indigenous South Pacific practices were alive and well. Excerpt: On the twenty-third day of January, 1790, the Bounty reached her destination. The island, though small, being about five miles in circumference, and scarcely more than two miles across at its widest point, was thickly covered with a luxuriant growth of trees. On coming near enough for a boat to venture, a small party went on shore to search the land. They effected a landing on the west side of the island, but, finding that a few yards from the sea the rocks rose perpendicularly to a forbidding height, and thinking to find a more convenient place for a settlement, they brought the ship round to the northeast side of the island. Here they managed to bring their boat safely to the shore, through perilous rocks and breakers. It did not take long to discover that the island had been, and perhaps still was, inhabited, and fears were entertained lest they should be attacked by hostile natives. Traces of former habitations,— marais , stone images, rude pictures cut in the rocks, stone hatchets, etc., etc.,—were evident proofs that human beings had once lived on the island, and in addition to these, several human skulls and other bones were afterward seen. As day after day passed, and no one appeared to molest them, the mutineers began to feel more secure and safe, and preparations were made for a permanent settlement. Their supply of water, though not abundant, was sufficient for their requirements, and the plants brought with them from Tahiti would, in due course of time, be able to supply their every want. But, first, all trace of the ship must be destroyed. She was driven near enough to the shore to allow of her being fastened to a tree by means of a rope. Everything that could be of service to the settlers was removed. For greater safety, one little child was brought ashore in a barrel, as the landing place for boats was very dangerous. When all had been removed from the ship, she was set on fire, and destroyed. There were those among the mutineers, if not all, who were grieved that they should be obliged to destroy the vessel that had been their home so long. Especially was it so with John Mills, if his daughter’s testimony is correct, for she never wearied of telling how her father sorrowed over the destruction of the Bounty , as it was his hope one day to return in her to England, even at the risk of his life. These fugitives from justice spent the early days of their settlement on Pitcairn Island in caves, and tents made of canvas, while their cottages were being built. Here, on this solitary, uninhabited spot, Christian could, at least, hope to hide himself and his guilty associates from the extreme penalty of the law.