1788 13 Oct. Good from Island. be years. the people and provisions were landed, and from whence I have received the most favourable accounts. They have vegetables in great abundance, as well as fish. The grain that had been sowed after the first had failed (from having been heated in the passage, accounts or injured by the weevil) promises a great increase. The soil is Norfolk extremely rich, and to the depth of many feet wherever they have dug; the people very healthy, and perfectly satisfied under an officer, who will in less than two years render that island The island to independent of this colony for the necessarys of life, if we can independent procure black cattle to send him.* He will have an additional in two number of people in the course of the summer. A few honest, industrious families would then find themselves happy in a good climate, as healthy as this settlement (and no place can be healthier), with a rich land, easy of cultivation, and where the storms of thunder and heavy rains have not been felt. The flax-plant will Flax. supply the settlers on that island with rope and canvas, as well as a considerable part of their cloathing, when they can dress it properly; but a person experienced in dressing flax is much wanted, as well as a few good husbandmen, for those we have been able to send there are not only in general idle and abandoned, but ignorant. A cocoanut that was as good as if just taken from the tree, and a small piece of wood, said to resemble the handle of a flyflap, as made in the Friendly Islands, and which did not appear to have been long in the water, have suggested an idea that some island which is inhabited lays at no great distance, but which my present situation does not permit me to determine. The remains of two or three canoes have been found on the rocks. The Golden Grove, in her passage from Norfolk Island, saw a very dangerous reef, the south end of which lay in the latitude A dangerous of 29° 25′ south, longitude 159° 59' east. It appeared from the N.E. by N. to N. when they were four leagues from it, but no judgment can be formed how far it extends to the northward. reef. Jackson. settlement. I had the honor of informing your Lordship of my intentions Port of fixing a settlement near the head of the harbour, and I have lately passed several days in examining the country. The land is good, and though there is none we can take possession of at A fresh present which can be cultivated without clearing the ground of the timber-for if the trees are at the distance of thirty or even fifty feet the roots spread-the labour there, nevertheless, will not exceed the fourth part of what is required in our present situation, and there the land appears to be the best I have seen in this country; and as far as I could examine, which was for a couple of miles round the spot on which I have fixed, I think the country as fine as any I have seen in England. I had country. The anticipation was not realised. It was not known at this time, however, that so many convicts would be sent to Norfolk Island as was afterwards determined. t Post, p. 215. Rose Hill. Fine 1788 16 Nov. A soldier missing. The people healthy. Flax and pepper. Black sand. Grievances of the inarines. Phillip reticent. A bad country. an officer and ten men with me, which I left to finish a small redoubt, and in a few days the remainder of the detachment will be sent up with some convicts. A soldier has been lately missing, who, I suppose, lost his way in the woods, and has either been killed by the natives or died by a fit, to which he was subject. Except the old, and those who brought incurable complaints with them, the people are very healthy. The weather is now settled, and the two store-ships are ready to sail, and intend going round the South Cape. A small quantity of flax, as I received it from Norfolk Island is enclosed with the despatches. A plant that produces pepper, and supposed to be the same as the East India pepper, is found in great plenty in Norfolk Island. Several roots of this plant, and some of the pepper, are sent to Sir Joseph Banks, who I have requested to inform your Lordship or Mr. Nepean if it proves to be, as supposed, the black pepper used in England. In sinking a well the sand was thought to contain a very large proportion of metal, a small quantity of which is sent by the two ships. It has been twenty-four hours in a strong fire, but we could not get it to melt. I suppose it to be blacklead.* I have, &c., A. PHILLIP. MAJOR ROSS TO UNDER SECRETARY NEPEAN.† My Dear Sir, Marine Quarters, Sydney Cove, 16th November, 1788. I do not feel myself at all at ease with respect to you, as I much fear you expect to hear from me by every ship which sails from here. The truth of the matter is that I have no one thing to communicate to you that can give you either pleasure or satisfaction, for, unless I attempted to give you a description of this country, and of the hardships, mortifications, and I had almost said cruelties, we are obliged to submit to, I have no subject worth taking up your time with. From our Governor's manner of expressing himself, for he communicates nothing to any person here but to his secretary (Capt. Collins), he has, I dare say, described this country as capable of being made the Empire of the East. But notwithstanding all he may from interested motives say--and as this letter is only for your own private perusal-I do not scruple to pronounce that in the whole world there is not a worse country than what we have yet seen of this. All that is contiguous to us is so very barren and forbidding that it may with truth be said here nature is reversed; and if not so, she is nearly worn out, for almost all the *A sample was submitted to Mr. Josiah Wedgwood, who pronounced it to be "a pure species of plumbago or blacklead." A private letter. 1788 16 Nov. should be seeds we have put into the ground has rotted, and I have no doubt but will, like the wood of this vile country when burned or rotten, turn to sand. This latter is a fact that has been proved, and will, I much fear, be fatally felt by some of its present inhabitants. I say the present, because if the Minister has a true and just description given him of it he will not surely No more think of sending any more people here. If he does, I shall not people scruple to say that he will entail misery on all that are sent and sent. an expense on the mother country that in the days of her greatest prosperity she was not equal to, for there is not one article that can ever be necessary for the use of man but which must be imported into this country. It is very certain that the whole face of it is covered with trees, but not one bit of timber have we yet found that is fit for any other purpose than to make the pot boil. Of the general opinion entertained here of the wretched prospect we have before us I cannot I think A wretched give you a more convincing proof than that every person (except the two gentlemen already mentioned, whose sentiments I am perfectly unacquainted with) who came out with a design of remaining in the country are now most earnestly wishing to get away from it. prospect. wish to stay. You will, no doubt, see a copy of the return which I am going to send to the Admiralty, as the Governor has requested it for your office. It is a return of that part of the marine detach- Marines who ment that wish to remain in this country, and the purposes for which they wish to stay.* I think this return [will] open people's eyes more than a volume writ upon the subject would. There is an effort making for clearing some land for corn at Rose Hill, the head of this harbour. The party gone and to go are to be under the care and protection of your old friend Campbell, who is to have two officers and twenty marines with him. His perseverance and attention to the forwarding the public service in general is too well known to require my saying anything on that head, unless it is to assure you that his abilities ever since his arrival here has been constantly employed with the most sedulous attention to the success of this settlement in particular, and was I in a situation that would admit my doing it, I most assuredly would make the Secretary of State acquainted with his worth. But as that is Campbell's not the case, I dare say you will think it a justice due to any man, much more in the present instance, for your old acquaintance, whom I am sure you wished to serve. I flatter myself you will have pleasure in representing him as he deserves, and possibly by that means procuring for him that for which he has served so long for.† * Ante, p. 201. * * * * R. Ross. The latter part of this letter is omitted by the transcriber as being devoid of public interest. value. 1788 16 Nov. Previous reports. GOVERNOR PHILLIP TO SECRETARY STEPHENS. Sir, Sydney Cove, Port Jackson, November 16, 1788. By his Majesty's ship Sirius, that sailed from hence for the Cape of Good Hope the 2nd of October, I had the honor of transmitting, for the information of the Lords Commissioners, particulars respecting this settlement and Norfolk Island, with such drawings of that and Lord Howe Island as I had received from the lieutenants King and Ball. A survey, made by Captain Hunter and the officers of the Sirius, of this harbour was sent with my dispatches in July, under the care of Lieutenant Shortland. The loss of all the seed wheat and most of the other grain and seeds that was brought from England, by being heated, was my reason for sending the Sirius to the Cape. You will, sir, please Movements to inform their Lordships that the Fishburn is now ready for sea. of ships. The Golden Grove sailed for Norfolk Island the 2nd of October. Both ships will sail for England as soon as that ship returns. I thought it necessary to keep the Supply, tender, here in the absence of the Sirius, which was my reason for sending the Golden Grove to Norfolk Island; and I ordered the master of the Supply on board that ship, as he is acquainted with the island, where the landing is difficult. Eighteen months' provisions and for Norfolk stores, with a petty officer, one sergeant, one corporal, five privates, two seamen, twenty-one men, and eleven women convicts, were sent in the Golden Grove. These make the number of people on Norfolk Island sixty-one, and more will be sent in the course of the summer. Detachment Island. Misunderstandings with the natives. Store-ship for the harbour. Small vessels. A marine missing. The natives now avoid us more than they did when we first landed, and which I impute to the robberies committed on them by the convicts, who steal their spears and fizgigs, which they frequently leave in their huts when they go out a-fishing, and which the people belonging to the transports purchase, though every possible precaution has been taken to prevent it. This the natives revenge by attacking any stragler they meet, and one convict has been killed since the Sirius sailed. The advantages attending a ship of the line as a store-ship in this harbour I have observed in my former letters. Such ship might bring a considerable quantity of black cattle from the Cape, as I presume she would have few guns on board. One or two small vessels of thirty or forty tons would, likewise, be employed to great advantage, and which I beg leave to submit to their Lordships' consideration. The necessity of a regular supply of provisions has been, likewise, pointed out in my former letters, as the resources this country affords at present are very trifling. A marine has been lately missing, and it is doubtful whether he lost his way in the woods and was killed by the natives, or whether he died in a fit, he being subject to fits. 1788 16 Nov. The Golden Grove returned from Norfolk Island the 10th instant, having landed the provisions and people. In her return they fell in with a dangerous reef, on which the sea broke very A dangerous high. The south end of the reef only was seen, which, by Mr. reef. Blackburn's account (the master of the Supply), is in the latitude of 29° 25′ S., longitude 155° 59′ E.* It extended from N.E. by N. to north, but the weather did not permit him to examine how far it extends to the northward. They were, when the bearings were taken, four leagues from it, with light airs of wind. It shall be examined in the course of the summer. Norfolk The accounts I have received from Norfolk Island are equally Fertility of favorable with those first received. Vegetables of every kind are Island. there in abundance. The corn they have sown promises well, and the landing may be made much safer than it is at present. The two store-ships have each a lower yard and top-gallant masts from that island, which I have ordered them to deliver at Deptford Yard, by which it may be determined how far the pine of that island may be useful. We still continue clearing the land near us, and some convicts, with a small detachment, are settled near the head of the harbour, where the ground is better and less timber to clear away. The two store-ships are now nearly ready for sea. The state and Store-ships ready for condition of his Majesty's armed tender Supply is inclosed. The sea. store-ships are to endeavour to make their passage round the South Cape. During the winter we had frequently very heavy gales of wind, Gales. several from the eastward; but the weather is now settled, and we have had less rain in the winter than what I have generally known in that season on the Brazil coast. Some driftwood, a cocoanut, and a small piece of wood like the handle of a fly-flap, such as are made in the Friendly Islands, having been driven on shore at Norfolk Island, not appearing to An inhave been long in the water, have suggested an idea there that island. some inhabited island is at no great distance. habited I have, &c., A. PHILLIP. Sir, MAJOR ROSS TO SECRETARY STEPHENS. Marine Q'rs, Sydney Cove, 16th Nov., 1788. Since I did myself the honor of writing to you on the 1st October by Captain Hunter, who was ordered to the Cape of Good Hope, I found myself under the necessity of ordering an officer into confinement, but as it has ever been my wish rather an arrest. to convince than punish, I directed the adjutant to show the officer the letter I had written to the Governor, requesting a * Middleton Reef, named after Sir Charles Middleton, Comptroller of the Navy. The "Directory of the South Pacific Ocean" gives the latitude of the "west elbow" of the reef 29° 27′ 40′′ S., and the longitude 159° 3′ 38′′ E. |
