9'- 
A VOYAGE TO 
CHAP, one hundred and fixty, or even one hundred and eighty 
v— feet in height, and are fometimes nine or ten feet in dia- 
meter at the bottom of the trunk. They rife to about 
eighty feet without a branch; the wood is faid to be of 
the beft quality, ahnoft as light as that of the beft Norway 
mails ; and the turpentine obtained from it is remarkable 
for purity and whitenefs. The fern tree is found alfo of 
a great height for its fpe-cies, meafuring from feventy to 
eighty feet, and affords excellent food for the fneep and 
. . other fmali cattle. A plant producing pepper, and fup- 
pofed to be the true oriental pepper, has been difcovered 
lately in the ifland, growing in great plenty ; and fpeci- 
mens have been fent to England, in order to afcertain 
this important points 
: The chief difadvantage experienced by thofe who are 
fent to Norfolk Illand, is the w^ant of a g-ood landing; 
place. The bay which has been ufed for this purpofe is 
ihofe of flags, but the flowers are fmaller and their cluflers more numerous ; in oriC 
kind they are yellow, and in the other a deep red. Of the leaves of thefe plants, 
with very little preparation, they make all their common apparel ; and of thefe 
they alfo make their firings, lines, and cordage for every purpofe, which are fo 
much ftronger than any thing we can make with hemp, that they will not bear a 
comparifon. From the fame plant, by another preparation, they draw long flender 
fibres which fhinelike filk, and are as white as fnow : of thefe, which are alfo fur- 
prizingly firong, the finer clothes are made; and of the leaves, without any other 
preparation than fplitting them into proper breadths and tying the ftrips together, 
tbey make their fUTiing nets ; fome of which, as I have before remarked, are of an 
enormous fize." It is added, that it is found in every kind of foil. It is perennial, 
and has a bulbous root. Some of the roots have lately been fent to England. 
. . inclofed 
