BY A. F. BASSET HULL. 6^9 



precipice almost sheer from the top to the sea, and is visible in 

 clear weather from a distance of 80 miles. 



The whole Island, excepting the small settled area, is well 

 covered with Kentia Palms, Banyans, and other trees, and in 

 many places the undergrowth and tangled vines make progress 

 through the bush difficult and at times impossible. 



Norfolk Island is situated in lat. 29" 3' S., and long. 167° 38' E., 

 and is about 950 miles from Sydney. The group consists of 

 Norfolk Island, about 4J miles in length by 5 miles in breadth, 

 irregularly square-shaped. Nepean Island, a flat-topped rocky 

 islet, lies a quarter of a mile to the south-east; Phillip Island, 

 about a mile and a half in length by three-quarters of a mile in 

 breadth, lies three miles to the southward. There are twelve 

 small rocky islets to the north, and some scattered rocks to the 

 south of Norfolk Island. 



The coast-line of Norfolk Island is bold and steep, rising 

 sharply from 100 to 300 feet, except at the three practicable 

 landing-places, Kingston, Cascade, and Ball Bay. Even at these 

 places the steep hills rise very close to the shore. The whole 

 Island is of basaltic formation, consisting of a succession of 

 rounded hills with deep gullies between, and in the north-western 

 corner Mount Pitt rises to an altitude of 1,044 feet. From the 

 "mountain" and the coastal hills very deep gullies, densely 

 wooded, run down to the coast, in many instances terminatint/ 

 in a sheer cliff descending to the sea. Those at the back of Mt. 

 Pitt, descending to Anson Bay and Duncombe Bay, are the 

 steepest and most heavil}^ timbered, huge pines (Araucaria 

 excelsa), white oaks {Lagunaria Pater soni), ironwoods {Notelcea 

 longifoUa), and bloodwoods {Baloghia lucida), grow so close 

 together that their spreading branches become interwoven, form- 

 ing deep shade in which the rank undergrowth flourishes. 

 Tangled vines, as thick as a man's arm, depend from the branches, 

 and lie twisted along the ground. Fortunately, there are excel- 

 lent roads forming a perfect network over the whole Island, and 

 many tracks have been cut through the timber to give access to 

 the various surveyed blocks, but the growth of the veoretation is 



