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1789

15 Oct.

Wm. Muspratt; aged 30 years; 5 feet 6 inches high; dark complexion; brown hair; slender made; very strong black beard; scared under his chin; tatowed in several places of his body.

Henry Hilbrant; aged 25 years; 5 feet 7 inches high; fair complexion; sandy hair; very strong made; his left arm shorter than the right, having been broke; is an Hanoverian, and speaks bad English. He is tatowed in several places.

Alexander Smith; aged 22 years; 5 feet 5 inches high; brown complexion; brown hair; strong made; pitted with the small pox; very much tatowed; scar on his right foot.

John Williams; aged 25 years; 5 feet 5 inches high; dark complexion; black hair; slender made; a scar on the back part of his head; is a native of Guernsey, and speaks French; is tatowed.

Richd. Skinner; aged 22 years; 5 feet 8 inches high; fair complexion; light brown hair; very well made; scars on both ankles and on his right shin; is tatowed; and by trade a hair dresser.

Thos. Ellison; aged 17 years; 5 feet 3 inches high; fair complexion; dark hair; strong made; has got his name tatowed on his right arm, and dated Oct'r 25th, 1788.

Wm. Brown, botanist assistant; aged 27 years; 5 feet 8 inches high; fair complexion; dark brown hair; rather slender made ; a remarkable scar on one of his cheeks, which contracts the eye lid and runs down to his throat, occasioned by the King's Evil; is tatowed.

Michl. Byrne; aged 28 years; 5 feet 6 inches high; fair complexion, and is almost blind; plays the fidle; has the mark of an issue in the back of his neck.

Joseph Coleman, armourer; aged 40 years; 5 feet 6 inches high; fair complexion; grey hair; strong made; a heart tatowed on one of his arms. This man declared to me publickly when I was in the boat that he knew nothing of the transaction, and begged of me to remember he told me of it, and that he was kept against his consent.

Thos. M'Intosh, carpt's crew; aged 28 years; 5 feet 6 inches high; fair complexion; light brown hair; slender made; pitted by the small pox.

Charles Norman, carp. mate; aged 26 years; 5 feet 9 inches high; fair complexion; light brown hair; slender made; pitted by the small pox, and has a remarkable motion with his head and eyes.

These two last, M'Intosh and Norman, declared as Coleman had done. Michl. Byrne, I was told, had no knowledge of what was doing.

WM. BLIGH.

[graphic]

PLATE 1.-NEW ZEALAND AND NORFOLK ISLAND FLAX-PLANT.

(PHORMIUM TENAX.)

APPENDIX B.

FLAX-PLANTS OF NEW SOUTH WALES AND
NORFOLK ISLAND.

IN his "Proposal for Establishing a Settlement in New South
Wales" Mr. J. M. Matra suggested that important results might New
be obtained from the cultivation of "the New Zealand hemp or Zealand
flax-plant
flax-plant" (Phormium tenax), which appears to have been well
known at the time to English manufacturers.* Having dwelt on
the fitness of the soil of New South Wales for the growth of semi-
tropical plants, Matra says:-

I must not omit the mention of a very important article, which may be obtained in any quantity, if this settlement be made the proper use of, which would be of very considerable consequence, both among the neces saries and conveniences of life. I mean the New Zealand hemp or flaxplant, an object equally of curiosity and utility.

New South

The same idea was made prominent in Sir George Young's "Plan," and in the "Heads of a Plan"; and in the Royal Instructions given to Phillip he was enjoined to pay particular attention to the cultivation of the flax-plant.§ Phillip seems to have thought that the plant grew wild in New South Wales, and was disappointed at not meeting with it, for in his despatch from Sydney, dated 15th May, 1788, he speaks of a sample of native flax that he is sending to England, and adds: “But the flax-plant Wales flax. described by Captain Cook I have never met with, nor had the botanists that accompanied Mons. La Perouse found it when I saw them, and which was some time after I arrived.||" The plant described by Captain Cook is the Phormium tenax, which is not indigenous to Australia. It was found, however, at Norfolk Island growing abundantly.¶ In a letter to Nepean, dated 5th

Ante, p. 19. § Ante, p. 89.

*Ante, p. 2. + Ante, p. 11. Ante, p. 128. According to the Botanical Magazine, the New Zealand flax and the Norfolk Island flax are identical. Cook, in his "Voyage to the South Pole," vol. II, p. 148, says: "We observed many trees and plants common at New Zealand, and in particular the flax plant, which is rather more luxuriant here [Norfolk Island] than in any part of that country."

Seed collected with

difficulty.

Mr. C.
Moore's

description.

The giant lily or flax lily.

flax.

July, 1788, Phillip returns to the subject: "Every possible attention will be paid to the cultivation of the flax-plant when circumstances permit, and on our arrival in this port it was frequently met with ; but when I judged the seed to be ripe and ordered it to be collected, very little was found, and none in those places where it had been seen in any quantity, which I impute to the natives pulling up the plant when in flower to make their fishing-lines.*" There can be little doubt that the plant referred to in this letter is "Gymnostachys anceps," commonly known as the native flax. Mr. Charles Moore, F.L.S., Director of the Sydney Botanic Gardens, writes:

The only plant known to me as native flax is that called botanically Gymnostachys anceps, which belongs to the family aroideæ. This plant has long flag-like leaves, which are extremely tough. At one time its leaves were used by both blacks and settlers for tying purposes. When the fibres of the leaves have softened by being drawn over a fire and twisted they become as strong as any flax rope of the same size. It grows plentifully in shady situations within the coast range. This plant has no affinity whatever to the New Zealand or Norfolk Island flax.

Other native fibre plants have a resemblance to flax, notably the giant lily, Doryanthes excelsa, sometimes called the flax lily. This plant grows freely in the National Park, and it was found in the neighbourhood of the George River a few years after the settlement was formed at Sydney, but north of that river it is not met with until Gosford is reached. Gymnostachys, on the other hand, is common to all parts of the coast. As stated by Phillip, the The native natives used it in making their fishing-lines, and they employed it for other purposes as well. The fibre of the native flax is stronger than that of any other Australian plant. It has been thoroughly tested, and Mr. Moore states that in one instance a thread not more than one-tenth of an inch in diameter sustained a weight Strength of of 60 lb. Samples were sent by Mr. Moore to the London Exhibition of 1862, and to other Exhibitions, but the plant does not appear to have attracted much attention. Whatever its value may be, it is less suitable for manufacturing purposes than the Phormium tenax, which occupies an important place in the exports of Flax-plants New Zealand. Gymnostachys is, moreover, a slow-growing plant,

fibre.

in the

Botanic
Gardens.

and is not so easily cultivated as the Phormium tenax. Specimens of both may be seen in the Sydney Botanic Gardens. The native flax is small and poorly developed, while the New Zealand plant grows vigorously, and presents a handsome appearance. The giant lily, or flax lily, grows fairly well in the Gardens. The Port Jackson and Illawarra natives made use of it for various purposes, and it was thought at one time that it might be used for papermaking. It was tested many years ago by the Sydney Paper Mills Company, Liverpool, with unsatisfactory results. The fibre was found to be unsuitable for the manufacture of white paper, although brown paper of excellent quality could be made from it.

* Ante, p 143.

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