431 A DnSC'RIPTION OF ifORroLK ISLAND. June 22, 



A Dcfcriptton of Nor/oIk I/land, extrciBedfrom the Pa- 

 pcrs refpeBing Botany Bay, communicated to Pariia- 

 merit, April %th, X791. 



Ou R readers have often heard of Botany Bay, and the great e xpence of that 

 fettlement. — The ifland thst forms the fuhjeft of the prefent article, 

 is in the neighbcirhnod of that fettlement, — and is feveral times men- 

 tioned in Governor Phillip's letters, as the moft fertile fpot they had 

 yet obferved. In his letter, dated April nth, 1 790, he fays : " The 

 " goodnefs of the foil of Norfolk Ifland, and the induftry of thofe em- 

 " ployed there, rendered that ifland a refource, and the only 

 " one that offered, when, from the time that had paffed fince my 

 " letters might be fuppofed (o have been received in England, there 

 " was reafoli to fuppofe fume accident had happened to the ftore-fhips 

 " fent out. 



" 1 therefore ordered two companies of marines to be ready to em- 

 " bark, with a number of con vi(Sls, by the 5th of March, if no lhipar» 

 " rived before that time; and a proportion of what provifions and florea 

 " remained in this fettlement, being put on board the Sirius and Sup- 

 " ply, Cxty-five officers and men, with five women and childien from 

 " the detachment and civil department, one hundred and fixtcen male, 

 " and fiify-feven female convids, with twenty-feven children, tm- 

 " barked and faded the 6th of March. 



" The advantage I expeAed, by fending away fuch a number of 

 " people, was from the little garden-ground they would leave, and 

 " which would aflift thofe who remained ; and the Cfli which might 

 " be caught in the winter, would go the farther ; at the fame time, 

 " thofe fent to Notfolk Ifland would have refources in the great abun- 

 " dance of vegetables raifed there, and in fifli and birds, which this 

 " fettlement could not afford them ; and it was my mtention to have 

 " fcnr more convi(51s to this ifland, if there had not been this neceffi- 

 " ty. The provifions fent, with what was on the ifland, and the wheat 

 " and Indian corn raifed there, more than would be neccflary for feed, 

 " wa< calculated to laft full as long as the provifions in this place; and 

 " at Norfolk Ifland, from 'he richnefs of the foil, a man may 

 " fupport bimjtlf -witb litth ajp.jiancs from the Jiore, after th$ timber it 

 " cleared a-wy.^' 



By the account-- laid before parliament, it apT»ear3, that the expences 

 already incurred by this eftabhfliment, preceding the the 9th Fe- 

 bruary 1 79 1, befides contingencies that cannot as yet be ftated, a- 

 mounts to 374,090 1. ij S' 8 4d. The total number of convi&s fent 

 out, is 20Z9. 



The description ci Norfolk Ifland, is as follows; 



