Part 4 (2/2)
But the people were all at that time in commodious houses; and, according to the declarations of Mr. King himself, in his letters to Governor Phillip, there was not a doubt that this colony would be in a situation to support itself entirely without a.s.sistance, in less than four years: and with very little in the intermediate time. Even two years would be more than sufficient for this purpose, could a proper supply of black cattle be sent.
Fish are caught in great plenty, and in the proper season very fine turtle. The woods are inhabited by innumerable tribes of birds, many of them very gay in plumage. The most useful are pigeons, which are very numerous, and a bird not unlike the Guinea fowl, except in colour, (being chiefly white,) both of which were at first so tame as to suffer themselves to be taken by hand. Of plants that afford vegetables for the table, the chief are cabbage palm, the wild plantain, the fern tree, a kind of wild spinage, and a tree which produces a diminutive fruit, bearing some resemblance to a currant. This, it is hoped, by transplanting and care, will be much improved in size and flavour.
But the productions which give the greatest importance to Norfolk Island are the pines and the flax plant, the former rising to a size and perfection unknown in other places, and promising the most valuable supply of masts and spars for our navy in the East Indies; the latter not less estimable for the purposes of making sail-cloth, cordage, and even the finest manufactures; growing in great plenty, and with such luxuriance as to attain the height of eight feet.* The pines measure frequently one hundred and sixty, or even one hundred and eighty feet in height, and are sometimes nine or ten feet in diameter at the bottom of the trunk. They rise to about eighty feet without a branch; the wood is said to be of the best quality, almost as light as that of the best Norway masts; and the turpentine obtained from it is remarkable for purity and whiteness. The fern tree is found also of a great height for its species, measuring from seventy to eighty feet, and affords excellent food for the sheep and other small cattle. A plant producing pepper, and supposed to be the true oriental pepper, has been discovered lately in the island, growing in great plenty; and specimens have been sent to England, in order to ascertain this important point.
[* The flax plant is thus described in Captain Cook's first voyage, vol.
iii. p. 39. as found at New Zealand. ”There is, however, a plant that serves the inhabitants instead of hemp and flax, which excels all that are put to the same purposes in other countries. Of this plant there are two sorts; the leaves of both resemble those of flags, but the flowers are smaller and their cl.u.s.ters more numerous; in one kind they are yellow, and in the other a deep red. Of the leaves of these plants, with very little preparation, they make all their common apparel; and of these they also make their strings, lines, and cordage for every purpose, which are so much stronger than any thing we can make with hemp, that they will not bear a comparison. From the same plant, by another preparation, they draw long slender fibres which s.h.i.+ne like silk, and are as white as snow: of these, which are also surprizingly strong, the finer clothes are made; and of the leaves, without any other preparation than splitting them into proper breadths and trying the strips together, they make their fis.h.i.+ng nets; some of which, as I have before remarked, are of an enormous size.”
It is added, that it is found in every kind of soil. It is perennial, and has a bulbous root. Some of the roots have lately been sent to England.]
The chief disadvantage experienced by those who are sent to Norfolk Island, is the want of a good landing place. The bay which has been used for this purpose is inclosed by a reef of coral rock, through which there is a pa.s.sage only for a boat; and during the tide of flood, when the wind is westerly, the landing is rather dangerous. In one of the debarkations a mids.h.i.+pman, who was ordered to lie within the reef, that he might attend the boats coming to sh.o.r.e, imprudently suffered his own boat to drive into the surf, and was lost, with four men. He had been once before overset in consequence of a similar inattention, and then had lost one man. On the coast of the island are several small bays, and there are still hopes that a better landing place may be discovered; but the necessity of employing all the men in sheltering themselves and the stores from the weather, or in clearing ground for various purposes, has. .h.i.therto prevented Mr. King from sending out any persons to complete the examination. Should this enquiry prove unsuccessful, it is proposed to attempt the blowing up of one or two small rocks, by which the reef is rendered dangerous. If this expedient also should fail, the evil must be borne with patience. In summer the landing will generally be sufficiently secure; and seamen, who have seen the bay of Riga, in the Baltic, declare, that it will at all times be safer for a s.h.i.+p to load with masts and spars at Norfolk Island, than in that place, where so many s.h.i.+ps are freighted yearly.
Rats are the only quadrupeds which have been found in this island; and from these, as well as from the ants, it was feared the crops might suffer; but no great inconvenience has yet been experienced from them; and proper exertions seldom fail in a short time to reduce the number of such enemies, enough to make their depredations very inconsiderable. On the whole, Norfolk Island certainly deserves to be considered as an acquisition of some importance, and is likely to answer even the most sanguine expectations. Some canoes have been found on the rocks, which were supposed to have been driven from New Zealand; but the appearance of a fresh cocoa nut and a small piece of manufactured wood, which seemed to have been only a small time in the water, has lately suggested an idea that probably some inhabited island may lie at no great distance. There has not been as yet any opportunity to determine whether this opinion be well founded or not.
A small island, but entirely uninhabited, was discovered by Lieutenant Ball in his pa.s.sage to Norfolk Island. In his return he examined it, and found that the sh.o.r.e abounded with turtle, but there was no good anchorage. He named it Lord Howe Island. It is in 31 36' south lat.i.tude, and 159 east longitude. Part of this island being very high may be seen at the distance of sixteen leagues, and a rock to the south-east of it, may be discerned even at eighteen leagues. In lat.i.tude 29 25' south, longitude 159 59' east, a very dangerous reef has since been seen. The s.h.i.+p from which it was observed was then four leagues to the southward, and it could not at that time be ascertained how far it extends to the northward.
To expedite the cultivation of Norfolk Island a fresh detachment was sent thither in October, consisting of an officer and eight marines, with thirty convicts, consisting of ten women and twenty men: Thus, there existed on this islet, when the last accounts were transmitted, forty-four men and sixteen women, who, having eighteen months provisions, lived comfortably on this sequestered spot, under the prudent management of a youthful ruler, of whose busy life the reader may wish to know all the particulars, which at present can be authentically told.
Philip Gidley King, who had the honour to conduct the original settlers to Norfolk Island, was born at Launceston in Cornwall, on the 23d of April, 1758. He is the son of Philip King, of that town, draper, who married the daughter of John Gidley, of Exeter, attorney at law. Much as he owes to his parents, he is indebted for his scholastic learning to Mr.
Bailey at Yarmouth. He derives, probably, some advantages from making an early choice of his profession. At the age of twelve, he went to the East Indies on board the Swallow frigate, Captain s.h.i.+rley, by whom he was rated a mids.h.i.+pman. From this station he returned to England, at the end of five years, with much knowledge of his business, and some acquaintance with the world. In 1775, he entered upon real service; and has continued in active employment from that period to this great epoch of his life. He went to Virginia with Captain Bellew, in the Liverpool, during the year 1775; with whom he continued till the s.h.i.+pwreck of that frigate in Delaware Bay. And having entered on board the Princess Royal, in October 1778, he was made a Lieutenant by Admiral Byron, in the Renown, on the 26th of November following. He returned to England in the subsequent year; and served in the Channel on board the Kite cutter, and Ariadne frigate, till the beginning of 1783. With Captain Phillip he went to the East Indies, as Lieutenant of the Europe, in January 1783; from whence he returned on the restoration of complete peace, in May 1784. In this service it was, that Phillip and King became acquainted with the merit of each other. And when the expedition to New South Wales was projected, King was appointed Lieutenant of the Sirius, on the 25th of October, 1786, at the same time that Phillip was nominated Commander of the voyage.
Chapter XI.
March 1788 to May 1788
Three of the transports cleared--Two excursions made into the country, on the fifteenth of April, and on the twenty-second--Huts of the natives--Sculpture, and other particulars.
25 March 1788
On the 25th of March, the Charlotte, Lady Penrhyn, and Scarborough transports, having been cleared of all their stores, were discharged from government service, and left at liberty to proceed for China, whenever their commanders should think proper. The other s.h.i.+ps were of necessity detained till the store-houses could be finished.
15 April 1788
The month of April was not distinguished by any events that deserve to be related, except two expeditions of Governor Phillip for the purpose of exploring the country. On the first of these excursions he set out on the 15th with provisions for four days; attended by several officers, and a small party of marines. They landed at the head of a small cove, called Sh.e.l.l Cove, near the entrance of the harbour on the north side.
Proceeding in this direction they arrived at a large lake, which they examined, though not without great labour. It was surrounded by a considerable extent of bog and marshy ground, in which, in the course of their progress, they were frequently plunged up to the waist. On this lake they first observed a black swan, which species, though proverbially rare in other parts of the world, is here by no means uncommon, being found on most of the lakes. This was a very n.o.ble bird, larger than the common swan, and equally beautiful in form. On being shot at, it rose and discovered that its wings were edged with white: the bill was tinged with red.
In three days, with great difficulty, they pa.s.sed the swamps and marshes which lie near the harbour. Nothing can more fully point out the great improvement which may be made by the industry of a civilized people in this country, than the circ.u.mstances of the small streams which descend into Port Jackson. They all proceed from swamps produced by the stagnation of the water after rising from the springs. When the obstacles which impede their course can be removed, and free channels opened through which they may flow, the adjacent ground will gradually be drained, and the streams themselves will become more useful; at the same time habitable and salubrious situations will be gained in places where at present perpetual damps prevail, and the air itself appears to stagnate.
On leaving these low grounds, they found them succeeded by a rocky and barren country. The hills were covered with flowering shrubs, but by means of various obstacles the ascending and descending was difficult, and in many parts impracticable. At the distance of about fifteen miles from the sea coast Governor Phillip obtained a very fine view of the inland country and its mountains, to several of which he now gave names.
The most northern of them he named Carmarthen Hills, the most southern Lansdown Hills; one which lay between these was called Richmond Hill.
From the manner in which these mountains appeared to rise, it was thought almost certain that a large river must descend from among them. But it was now necessary to return, without making any further examination.
22 April 1788
On the 22d another excursion of the same kind was undertaken: Governor Phillip landed with his party near the head of the harbour. Here they found a good country, but in a short time arrived at a very close cover; and after pa.s.sing the chief part of the day in fruitless attempts to make their way through it, were obliged to relinquish the attempt, and return.
The next day, by keeping close to the banks of a small creek for about four miles, they contrived to pa.s.s the cover, and for the three succeeding days continued their course to the west-ward. The country through which they travelled was singularly fine, level, or rising in small hills of a very pleasing and picturesque appearance. The soil excellent, except in a few small spots where it was stony. The trees growing at the distance of from twenty to forty feet from each other, and in general entirely free from underwood, which was confined to the stony and barren spots. On the fifth day they ascended a small eminence, whence, for the first time in this second expedition, they saw Carmarthen and Lansdown Hills. The country round this hill was so beautiful, that Governor Phillip gave it the name of Belle-vue. They were still apparently thirty miles from the mountains which it had been their object to reach, and not having found it practicable, with the tents, arms, and other necessaries, to carry more than six days provisions, were obliged to return. Even with this small stock, the officers as well as men, had been under the necessity of carrying heavy loads. Water for the use of the day was always taken; for though it happened in every instance that pools of water were found which had remained after the rains, yet this was a supply on which they could not previously depend. The extraordinary difficulty of penetrating into this country had now been fully experienced; where unexpected delays from deep ravines and other obstacles, frequently force the traveller from his direct course, and baffle every conjecture concerning the time required for pa.s.sing a certain tract. The utmost extent of this excursion in a direct line had not been more than thirty miles, and it had taken up five days. The return of the party was effected with much more ease; the track was made, and the trees marked the whole way where they had pa.s.sed; with these a.s.sistances they reached their boats in a day and a half.
It was still the general opinion that the appearance of the country promised the discovery of a large river in that district, whenever the line now taken could be fully pursued. Another expedition was therefore planned, in which it was determined, if possible, to reach either Lansdown or Carmarthen Hills: and the hope of so important a discovery as that of a river made every one anxious to go, notwithstanding the great fatigue with which these undertakings were attended. But this design was for the present unavoidably deferred. Governor Phillip, who had not been perfectly well even at the time of setting out on the excursion to Broken Bay, had then contracted a severe pain in his side, by sleeping frequently on the wet ground. This complaint had in the two last journeys received so much increase, that he found it absolutely necessary to allow himself the respite of a few weeks, before he again encountered so much fatigue.
<script>