1790 Dec. The natives. Cannibal ism. Journal. and to learn all you can concerning the wild sheep said to be found on the coast, and, if practicable, procure the skin of one of them for your employer. 12th. In all places where you can procure a friendly intercourse with the natives you are to make carefull enquiry into their manners, customs, ceremonies, religion, language, manufacture, and every other thing in your opinion likely to interest mankind. And if you find the abominable custom of eating human flesh, which they are said to practice, to be really in use among them, you are, if you can do it with safety and propriety, to be present at some of their horrid repasts in order to bear witness to the existence of a practice all but incredible to the inhabitants of civilised countries, and discover, if you can, the original motives of a custom for which it seems impossible to suggest any probable cause. 13th. You are to keep a regular journal of all occurrences that happen in the execution of your duty, and enter in it all observations you shall make on every subject you are employed to investigate, which journal you are on your return to deliver to his Majesty's Sec. of State for the Home Department, or to such person as he A collection shall direct to receive them; and also one compleat collection of of specimens to be made. all the specimens of animals, vegetables, and minerals that you shall have procured, as well as such curious articles of the cloths, arms, implements, and manufactures of the natives as you shall deem worthy of particular notice. and his duties. MEMORANDA BY SIR JOSEPH BANKS. Mr. Menzies FURNISH Mr. M. [Menzies] with such proportion of the trade for Indians entrusted to his charge as may enable him to hire the assistance [of] the Indians as guides and to carry his luggage, and to induce them to give him such information as he may want from them. Surgeon of That the plant-hatch be put under his care and direction, and that neither lumber or dogs the property of any person be put in it. That he be allowed his share of the conveniences of the gunroom in point of store-roonis, &c., &c. Assist him with boats when they can be spared from the duty of the ship. Assist him with men and any such heavy luggage as he may have occasion to bring on board, particularly earth for his plants, as well as the plants themselves. Take on board water for the plants in such quantities as shall be found necessary for the support of the plants on the requisition of Mr. M. [Menzies]. To be appointed surgeon of the Discovery, which he understands is intended to bear two mates. To occupy the cabbin on board her which was intended for him as naturalist. To receive £80 a year as a salary. To have an assistant, who is to receive £20 a year able pay and ship's provision. To obey such instructions as he shall receive relative to an investigation of the natural productions, comparative fertility, manners of natives of the countries he is to visit, &c. To deliver his journal to his employers on his return, provided that if it is thought proper for publication he shall be allowed to publish it for his own benefit. Given to Mr. Nepean, Decr. 15, 1790. 22nd, he told me Ld. G.* had agreed to the whole proposition, and ordered a letter to be wrote to Mr. Martin,† to request the appointment of surgeon for Mr. M.t Jan. 1st, 1791. Mr. Menzies to receive £150 a year for every charge of salary, mess, servants' wages, &c., &c. Himself and his servant to be entered as supernumeraries for provision only, but his servant to be placed in some situation in which his time as a seaman may go on. His servant was in the President's foretop during the late armament, and is 17 years of age. CAPTAIN HARVEY TO SIR JOSEPH BANKS (Banks Papers.) My Dear Sir, 2nd Jan'y, 1791. 1790 Dec. 1791 1 Jan. 2 Jan. mand of the Just as I was sitting down to inform you that the Gorgon was changing her provisions, and that when compleated with fresh she would have sail'd for New South Wales in the course of three weeks, when I was visited by a Captain Parker, late of the The comUlysses, who informed me that he came to supersede me. At Gorgon. present I can only account for it that the Major-Commandant and I have disagreed. I hope to be in town in a few days, when I will wait on you. I am, &c., WM. HARVEY. 5 Jan. LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR KING TO UNDER SECRETARY NEPEAN. *Lord Grenville, Secretary of State for the Home Department. Mr. Henry Martin, Comptroller of the Navy. He succeeded Sir Charles Middleton, March, 1790. Mr. Menzies was not appointed to this position in the first instance, but he undertook the duties subsequently. return to 1791 5 Jan. Batavia. fever. was also directed to embark myself on board his Majestie's armed tender the Supply, and proceed in her to Batavia, from whence I was directed to make the best of my way to England. The Supply sailed from Port Jackson on April 17th, and arrived at Batavia July 6th. On the 4th August I left that port, having taken my passage on board the Snelheid, a Dutch packet. A putrid fever made its appearance soon after sailing, which in a few days carried off a part of the crew; and the officers, with the rest Deaths from of the people, being in a dying state, it was found necessary to bear up for the Mauritius, where we arrived on the 4th September. Being in an ill state of health, I staid on shore during the time the vessel was at this port. On the 17th September the packet sailed, having entered a new crew, the captain and six men, with Death of the Mr. Andrew Miller, late Commissary of Stores and Provisions at New South Wales, having died on the passage from Batavia to the Mauritius. Commissary. Arrival in 10 Jan. Topography. Mount Pitt. On the 11th October I arrived at the Cape of Good Hope, and on the 20th sailed from thence. On the 19th December the packet was off Beachy Head, when a signal was made for a boat, which came off and demanded forty guineas for setting me on shore, which was reduced to seventeen, for which I was put on shore with great difficulty at Dungeness Lighthouse, and on the 21st I arrived in London and delivered the despatches. Enclosed I have the honour of sending an account of the different sums I have been necessitated to draw for on the Right Honble. the Lords Commissioners of his Majesty's Treasury, as well as the statement of my expences and passage, together with different bills and receipts, by which you will observe there is a ballance due from me of twenty-five pounds four shillings, which I have to request may be placed as an imprest against my salary. I am, &c., PHILIP GIDLey King. DESCRIPTION OF NORFOLK ISLAND BY LIEUT.-Governor King.* NORFOLK ISLAND is situated in the latitude 29°, and in the longitude of 168° east. Its form is nearly an oblong, and contains from twelve to fourteen thousand acres. The face of the country is hilly, and some of the valleys are tolerably large for the size of the island. Many of the hills are very steep, and some few so very perpendicular that they cannot be cultivated; but where such situations are they will do very well for fuel. On the tops of the hills are some extensive flatts. Mount Pitt is the only remarkable high hill on the island, and is about one hundred and fifty fathoms high. The clifts which surround the island are about forty fathoms high and perpendicular. The basis of the island is a hard, firm clay. The whole island is covered with a thick wood, choaked up with underwood. * In Lieutenant-Governor King's handwriting. The island is well supplied with many streams of very fine water, many of which are sufficiently large to turn any number of mills. These springs are full of very large eels. 1791 10 Jan. From the coast to the summit of Mount Pitt is a continuation Deep soil. of the richest and deepest soil in the world, which varys from a rich black mold to a fat red earth. We have dug down forty feet and found the same soil. The air is very wholsome, and the climate may be called a very Climate. healthy one. There has been no sickness since I first landed on the island. There are five kind of trees on the island which are good Trees. timber, viz., the pine, live oak, a yellow wood, a hard black wood, and a wood not unlike the English beach. The pine-trees are of a great size, many of which are from one hundred and eighty to two hundred and twenty feet in height, and from six to nine feet in diameter. Those trees, which are from one hundred to one hundred and eighty feet in height, are in general sound; from Pines. the root to the lower branches there is from eighty to ninety feet of sound timber, the rest is too hard and knotty for use; it sometimes happens that after cutting off twenty feet from the butt it becomes rotten or shakey, for which reason no dependence can be put in it for large masts or yards. The timber of the pine is very usefull in buildings, and is plentifull along the coast; Value of the its dispersed situation in the interior parts of the island is well pine. calculated for erecting such buildings as may be necessary. From what I have seen of this wood, I think it is very durable. Two boats have been built of it, and have answered the purpose fully. The live oak, yellow wood, black wood, and beach are all of a close grain, and are a durable wood. Norfolk The flax-plant of New Zealand grows spontaneously in many The flaxparts of the island, but mostly abounds on the sea-coast, where plant. there is a very great quantity of it. The leaves of which the flax is made is, when full-grown, six feet long and six inches wide. Each plant contains seven of those leaves. A strong woody stalk rises from the center, which bears the flowers. It seeds annually, and the old leaves are forced out by young ones every year. Every method has been tryed to work it; but I much fear that untill a native of New Zealand can be carried to Norfolk Island that the method of dressing that valuable com- Dressers modity will not be known; and could that be obtained, I have wanted. no doubt but Norfolk Island would very soon cloath the inhabitants of New South Wales.* There are a great quantity of pidgeons, parrots, hawkes, and Birds. other smaller birds, which are now in a wild state. * Two natives of New Zealand were captured in 1793, and taken to Norfolk Island. From them the people learned something about the dressing of flax, but King's anticipation that "Norfolk Island would very soon cloath the inhabitants of New South Wales" was not realised. 1791 10 Jan. Grubs. Rats. Fish. The coast. Sydney Bay. Anson Bay. Ball Bay. Prevailing winds. Droughts. Climate. Crops. The ground is much infested with different kinds of the grub worm, which are very destructive to the growth of vegetables. They are mostly troublesome about the spring. It is to be hoped that when more ground is cleared away that this evil will cease. There is no quadruped on the island except the rat, which is much smaller than the Norway rat. These vermin were very troublesome when first we landed, but at present there are but very few. The coasts of the island abound with very fine fish. No opportunitys were ever lost of sending the boat out, which enabled us to make a saving of two pounds of meat each man a week. The coasts of the island are in general steep, too, and excepting at Sydney, Anson, Ball, and Cascade Bays, they are inaccessible, being surrounded by steep perpendicular clifts, rising from the Some rocks are scattered about close to the shore. sea. Sydney Bay, on the south side of the island, is where the settlement is made. Landing at this place entirely depends on the wind and the weather. I have seen as good landing as in the Thames for a fortnight or three weeks together, and I have often seen it impractable to land for ten or twelve days successively, but it is much oftener good landing than bad. Anson Bay is a small bay with a sandy beach, where landing is in general good, with an offshore wind and moderate weather; but as the interior parts of the island are so difficult of access from thence no ships' boats have ever landed there. Ball Bay is on the S.E. side of the island. The beach is a large loose stone. When landing is bad in Sydney Bay it is very good here, as it also is in Cascade Bay, on the north side of the island. During the winter months, viz., from April to August, the general winds are the south and S. W., with heavy gales at times. In the summer the S.E. wind blew almost constant. The spring is visible in August, but the native trees and many plants on the island is in a constant state of flowering. The summer is warm, and sometimes the droughts are very great. All the grain and European plants seeded in December. From February to August may be called the rainy season, not that I think there is any stated times for rain in these months, as it is sometimes very fine weather for a fortnight together, but when the rain does fall it is in torrents. I do not remember above three claps of thunder during the time I was on the island. The winter is very pleasant, and it never freezes. be The proper time for sowing wheat and barley is from May to August, and is got in in December. That which has been sowed has produced twenty-fivefold, and I think the increase greater. Two bushells of barley sowed in 1789 produced twentyfour bushells of a sound full grain. may |
