convince them that the officers were men of ability, observation, and diligence. They had now been a considerable time in Botany Bay. Amongst other works, during their stay, they constructed two large boats which they had brought in pieces from France: these were to replace two which they had lost on the northwest coast of America.

In the course of a walk which some of them took with Captain Hunter, they pointed out to him a small mount upon the north shore of the bay, consisting of very perfect basaltic columns.

M. de Clonard, the captain of the Astrolabe, in an excursion he made from the ships, brought round some dispatches from M. de La Perouse, which that officer requested the governor to forward to the French ambassador at the court of London. On the 10th of March they left the coast of New South Wales.

Soon after their departure, the grave of the Abbé L. Receveur, who died a few weeks before they sailed, was discovered. He was buried not far from the spot where their tents had been erected, at the foot of a tree, on which were nailed two pieces of board with the following inscription :

HIC JACET

L. RECEVEUR

EX F. F. MINORIBUS

GALLIE SACERDOS

PHYSICUS IN CIRCUMNAVIGATIONE MUNDI

DUCE D. DE LA PEROUSE

OBIIT DIE 17 FEBR. ANNO

1788.

Governor Phillip, on hearing soon after that the boards had fallen down, caused the inscription to be engraven on a plate of copper, which was put up in place of them; but rain, and the oozing of gum from the tree, soon rendered it

illegible.

Several transports, chartered for China, were now clearing. The ordnance, consisting of two brass six-pounders, four iron twelvepounders, and two iron six-pounders, were landed. A wharf, for the convenience of landing stores, was begun under the direction of the surveyor-general. The boats belonging to the ships in the cove, were employed in bringing up cabbage-trees from the lower part of the main harbour, where they grew in great abundance. Their tops are highly esteemed as an esculent vegetable, and the wood was

found well adapted to the erection of huts. The roofs of these were thatched with the leaves of the gum plant. A party of convicts was employed in making bricks, under the direction of a person who understood that business, at a spot about a mile from the settlement, at the head of Long Cove. A site was fixed upon for the future residence of the governor, upon an eminence from which there was a beautiful view of the main harbour. The first step, however, to this undertaking, was yet to be effected, that of clearing the ground. The main street also was marked out. Although the intended town was still nearly a wilderness, yet an attention to future convenience was not neglected, and something of regularity was attempted in the distribution of its parts.

CHAPTER VII.

The Blue Mountains-Governor's Excursion.

On the 19th of March, the Supply, after an absence of a month and six days, returned, under the command of Lieutenant Ball, from Norfolk Island, with letters from Mr. King. She had reached that island on the 29th, but had not landed her people till the 6th of March, and on the 8th she set sail on her return to Port Jackson. It could not be expected that in so short a space of time, any very detailed information respecting it could be given. It appeared, however, from the report received, that the soil was excellent; that the island was almost wholly covered with trees, and a thick underwood; that the pines growing there were of an enormous height; that for five successive days a landing had been prevented by a surf, which was found to break with violence on a reef of rocks that lay across the principal bay. Lieutenant King had named this bay, Sydney Bay, and had given the names of Phillip and Nepean to two small islands situ

ated near it. At the time this ship left the island, he had not yet seen the flax plant.

torrents.

To the above information it may not be improper here to add the following particulars: -Norfolk Island is about six miles in length, and four in breadth, and contains about fourteen thousand acres. It is much varied by hill and valley. There is a high hill in the centre, the haunt of innumerable sea-fowl. The island is well watered; the climate is salubrious, and for the most part of a delightful temperature, being generally preserved from excessive heat by the sea breezes. Rain is not unfrequent from February to August, and falls in sudden There is a perpetual verdure, but that verdure is of trees and shrubs. There is no grass upon the island, but many flowers. Upon the leaves of these various plants, however, sheep, hogs, goats, and cattle, thrive exceedingly. The winter, which may be said to commence in May and end in August, is very pleasant. There is no frost, and cold is but seldom felt. Besides the pines already mentioned, it produces several other species of forest trees, and the underwood is in general so thick and so bound together by that kind of creeping shrub called supple-jack, interwoven in all directions, as to be absolutely impenetrable. Amongst other productions,