An Historical Journal of the Transactions at Port Jackson and Norfolk Island Part 19

Ans. With twenty more men, and women in proportion exclusive, I should be able to make a little progress in clearing and cultivating the ground.

Q. 3. In what time do you think the island will be able to maintain the additional number of people you wish to have sent you?

Ans. I think in two years, but in three at most, as answered by the first question.

Q. 4. What ground have you in cultivation?

Ans. Two acres and an half in barley, and one acre in garden ground: in September I shall have an acre in Indian corn and rice.

Q. 5. Have you discovered the flax-plant?

Ans. Yes: some bundles of the flax-plant which I put into water on the 17th of March were taken up the 27th of July, when we found that the thick vegetable of the fibres had rotted away, but still they were covered with an hard woody substance, from which we have ineffectually tried to separate the flaxy part, which I have no doubt would make good cordage, canvas, and linen, as it appears to be of a fine and strong texture. Some lines were made of it, which were tolerably strong and good; but the want of a method to separate the woody part from the flax, will be a great hindrance to its being made useful.

Q. 6. How many acres of clear ground have you found in the island?

Ans. Not a yard square.

Q. 7. Have you any place round the island at which a vessel of thirty or forty tons can remain at anchor in security all the year round?

Ans. None; without removing to the lee side of the island as the wind changes. Anchorage is good all round the island, as the bottom is a coral sand: at about two miles from the land the circular depth is twenty-two fathoms. An harbour might be made by cutting a channel through the reef about four hundred feet long, but it would be necessary to blow up some sunken rocks to facilitate the entry: if it should ever be thought proper to do this, five vessels of seven feet draught might lie all the year round in security within the reef: they will not be able to enter but in the finest weather, with the wind from north-east to north-west, and then they must warp in: perhaps less difficulty will be found when I am informed of the state of the weather during the Summer months.

Q. 8. How far will it be possible to load any s.h.i.+p hereafter with spars for s.h.i.+ps of the line; I mean with respect to the great difficulty, I am told, there is to land any thing on the island, or to take any thing off?

Ans. I cannot answer this question so fully as I could wish, until I am acquainted with the state of the weather during the summer months. In fine weather, with the wind at north-east, spars of any dimensions may be sent off from Sydney-Bay, by mooring a boat without the reef, and hauling the spars off. I have great reason to suppose anchorage will be very safe off Sydney-Bay in the summer. I think vessels might be built and launched in Ball-Bay; and when the flax-plant can be brought to work, cordage and sails can be made of the finest and strongest sort.

Q. 9. How does your stock thrive, and what does the island produce?

Ans. Of the stock I brought with me, five ewes are dead with the scab, and two sows poisoned: the rest are all very thriving and likely to do well. The productions of the island, are timber for the construction of vessels, pines for masting them, and, when the flax-plant can be worked, a sufficiency of cordage for the navy of Great-Britain, which needs no cultivation, as the island abounds with it, and fresh leaves shoot from the roots.

Pigeons, parrots, parroquets, and other birds, are in abundance; the sea abounds with fish, and probably we may have turtle during the summer months. A number of banana trees have been found on the island.

Q. 10. What live stock do you wish to have sent you?

Ans. Stock of any kind would be acceptable for breeding. I have no she-goats. The leaves of the trees and underwood, afford ample and wholesome food for many animals, and the fern-tree, which is very plentiful, is very good food for hogs.

Q. 11. Are those who are with you satisfied, or do they wish to be relieved?

Ans. Every one is satisfied, and no person wishes to be relieved.

Q. 12. What weather have you in general?

Ans. During the months of March and April, we had very fine weather; since when, it has been variable; and when the wind has been at south, and south-west, the air was raw and cold. The full and change of the moon has generally been accompanied with very heavy gales of wind and torrents of rain, from the north-east, or south-west, both of which have been very violent at times. We have had no thunder or lightning, nor ice.

Q. 13. What are the prevailing winds?

Ans. The winds have been variable: westerly winds appear to be most frequent during the winter, and I have great reason to suppose easterly winds are constant during the summer.

Q. 14. Have you been at the small islands?

Ans. I have been round Nepean Island once, but could not land on it, the wind being westerly, which made a great break in the small sandy bay which lies on the south-west side of that isle.

My not having men to row, and the uncertainty of the weather, has prevented my going to Phillip isle.

Q. 15. Are there any animals on the island, and of what kind are they?

Ans. None but rats, which are distructive, and have been very numerous; but now they are much thinned.

Q. 16. Have you found any lime or chalk stone?

Ans. None.

Q. 17. Have you been supplied with fish?

Ans. Fish in great numbers, and of a large size, abound all round the island. Some turtle were caught soon after I landed, but the approach of cold weather drove them off. I have not been able to send the boat off so often as I wished, not having men to row, but when she has gone out, a plentiful supply of fish has been obtained.

At sun-rise on the 12th of August, we hoisted the colours, in observance of the birth-day of his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales; and the same day a rood and an half of ground was sown with a peck of seed wheat, which I received by the Supply.

From this time till the 17th, every person was employed in clearing a piece of ground to sow the remainder of the seed wheat, which was brought by the Supply; and this being completed, I sent the labourers to clear away, turn up, and plant half an acre of ground in Arthur's Vale, with Indian corn.

The frequent accidents which had happened to boats here, made me anxious to search for a better landing place, or a place where landing might be practicable, when the surf ran too high to land in Sydney-Bay; and Lieutenant Ball having mentioned one as likely in Cascade-Bay, on the north side of the island, I set out at day-light in the morning, taking three men along with me, in search of it; proposing, at the same time, to examine Ball-Bay in my road. I left the surgeon commanding officer at the settlement, and I cannot help testifying the great satisfaction I felt at having a person of his character, to superintend the work in my absence, and his steadiness and general knowledge, made him a valuable a.s.sociate. After climbing and descending a number of steep hills, and cutting our way through the thick woods which covered some small plains, we arrived at a gully to the westward of Ball-Bay, about eleven o'clock; from whence we walked round to the bay by the sea-sh.o.r.e, it being low water.

The distance between the two points of Ball-Bay is about a mile and a half; it goes in west-north-west, and is nearly a mile deep. At the distance of two hundred yards from the sh.o.r.e, the bay is entirely surrounded with steep hills, except in the center, where there is a valley, down which, a stream of fresh water runs, and empties itself on the beach. The sides of these hills are cloathed with pines and the flax-plant; the beach is covered with large round stones, under which is a hard bottom, formed by the incrustation of sand and sh.e.l.ls. The wind being now at south-south-east, there was not the least surf on the beach; and I apprehend, that when the wind blows from the south-west, which makes very bad landing in Sydney-Bay, the landing is very good here; so that, should I not find Cascade-Bay a more eligible place than this, it was my intention to make a creek on the beach, by removing the stones for the breadth of twenty feet, until the bottom is clear, and as they are very heavy, I do not think it would be liable to fill up again.

I pa.s.sed the remainder of the day here, and slept under a tent which I had brought with me. The next morning at day-light, we set out from Ball-Bay in order to go to Cascade-Bay, on the north side of the island, which is not more than three miles distant, yet we did not arrive there before five o'clock in the afternoon, quite exhausted and fatigued; having been under the necessity of cutting our way through the entangled underwood, which intercepted us in every direction.

The landing place mentioned by Lieutenant Ball, is on a rock, a little detached from the island, and has communication with it at half tide: there is no objection to this being a very good landing place, if it were not for the almost total impossibility of getting any article of provisions or stores further than the rock, which is at least three hundred yards from the valley that leads down to it. Between this rock and the cascade, there is a stony beach, similar to that at Ball-Bay, on which landing is very good, with southerly winds, and they generally prevail during the winter. Spars might be sent off from hence with great ease; but should the island remain settled, it will be necessary to make the landing at this place more convenient than it is at present. We pa.s.sed the night in the valley above the cascade: this valley is extensive, and a very large deep rivulet runs through it.

At day-light on the 19th, we set out on our return to Sydney-Bay, where we arrived at four in the afternoon, with scarcely a rag to cover ourselves, the cloaths being torn off our backs by the briars.

I observed the soil to be very good in every part of the island I visited during the excursion, and it was well watered; but the woods were almost impa.s.sable. There is a deal of level ground on the tops of the hills, and most of them will admit of cultivation; and where they are too steep for that purpose, the timber which grows on them might he reserved for fuel.

The wheat which we had sown on the 12th and 17th, was all out of the ground by the 24th, and had a very promising appearance.

Early in the morning of the 25th, the surgeon, with six men, went to Ball-Bay, to make a commencement on the creek; taking a week's provisions and four tents along with them.

I visited this party on the 27th, and found they had made good progress, considering that their labour was greatly r.e.t.a.r.ded by neap tides, and an easterly wind, which threw a great surf upon the beach.

The surgeon and his party returned on the 30th, and the next morning, at day-light, I set out, with some men, to see what further could be effected: we got to the bay by half past eight o'clock, and found the tides of the preceding day had thrown a number of loose small stones into the cut. As the tide ebbed, I directed the labourers to clear away a number of large stones which lay in the entrance of the cut; and at low water, all the stones were removed as far out as possible, which was compleated at five o'clock in the afternoon. The out was about three feet deep, and at half tide there was upwards of six feet at the entrance: with any other wind than between south-west and north-west, there is a surf on the beach, which often breaks with so much violence, as to render any attempt to land highly dangerous. As I found every thing done at this place, which could be effected with the small number of men I had, we returned to Sydney-Bay on the 3d.

Hitherto, the people on the settlement had not done much work for themselves; and, all the good seed of Indian corn being sown, I gave every person liberty from this time till the 14th, to clear away their gardens, and sow them. For four days past, a single turtle had been observed on the beach; I was loath to turn it, hoping it would draw others on, but finding that did not happen, it was turned on the 6th day, and brought to the settlement, where it was served out as usual.

This turtle had been recently wounded between the shoulders with a kind of peg; which circ.u.mstance, together with some pieces of canoes, a wooden image resembling a man, and a fresh cocoa-nut, found in Ball-Bay, induced me to suppose that there is a considerable island undiscovered, not far from the eastward of Norfolk-Island. The Indian-corn sown during the last and present month, was now all up, and likely to do well.

I set off at day-light in the morning of the 15th, and went to the western or rocky point. The entangled state of the woods on this part of the island, were worse, if possible, than any where else, but the soil and general appearance was much the same. From Point-Ross to Rocky-Point, the sh.o.r.e is inaccessible; consisting altogether of steep cliffs, which rise perpendicular from the sea. I returned at sun-set, much fatigued, and my cloaths, as usual on these excursions, were torn from my back.

As the houses and tents were surrounded by a thick wood, I set the men to make an opening to the sea-side, by cutting down the trees and piling up the timber.

In the course of this month, we saw a great number of whales and thrashers, some of which came close to the reef: indeed, on our first landing here, I found the entire skeletons of two whales, which had every appearance of having been driven on sh.o.r.e, and the flesh destroyed by rats and birds.