Читать книгу Mutiny on the Bounty. Historical Novel онлайн

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“Were I a man,” said my mother, whose eyes were bright with interest, “I should beg you to take me along; you will need gardeners, no doubt, and I could care for the young plants.”

Bligh smiled. “I would ask no better, ma’am,” he said gallantly, “though I have been supplied with a botanist—David Nelson, who served in a similar capacity on Captain Cook’s last voyage. My ship, the Bounty, will be a floating garden fitted with every convenience for the care of the plants, and I have no fear but that we shall be able to carry out the purpose of the voyage. It is the task our good friend Sir Joseph has enjoined on me that presents the greatest difficulty. He has solicited me most earnestly to employ my time in Tahiti in acquiring a greater knowledge of the Indians and their customs, and a more complete vocabulary and grammar of their language, than it has hitherto been possible to gather. He believes that a dictionary of the language, in particular, might prove of the greatest service to mariners in the South Sea. But I know as little of dictionaries as of Greek, and shall have no one on board qualified for such a task.”