NORFOLK. 
146 
NOR'FOLK, a port of entry, poft-town, and feat of 
juftice, in the above county, on the eaftfide of Elizabeth- 
river, immediately below the confluence of the eaftern 
branch. It is the moft confiderable commercial town in 
Virginia. The harbour is fafe and commodious, and 
large enough to contain 300 {flips. It contains about 
500 dwelling-houfes, a court-houfe, goal, an epifcopal 
and methodift church, a theatre, and an academy. The 
number of free inhabitants is 4222, and that of flaves is 
2724. .It is governed by a mayor and feveral aldermen. 
It carries on a briflc trade with the Weft Indies, Europe, 
.and the different ftates; and conftitutes with Portfmouth, 
which {lands on the oppofite fide of the river, a port of 
■entry. The exports for the year, ending September 30, 
1794, amounted in value to 1,660,752 dollars. A canal is 
formed from the north branch of Albemarle-found in 
North Carolina to the waters of the fouth branch of 
Eiizabeth-river nine miles from Norfolk; and merchant- 
.veffels of the largeft fize may go within a mile from the 
mouth of the canal: 114 miles eaft-fouth-eaft of Rich¬ 
mond. Lat. 36. 55. N. Ion. 76. 28. W. 
NOR'FOLK, a townfhip in Lichfield county, Con¬ 
necticut: fifteen miles north of Lichfield, on the Maffa- 
.chufetts line; containing 1749 inhabitants. 
NOR'FOLK (New), a traCt of country on the weft coaft 
of North America, extending from Crofs-found to New 
Cornwall. 
NOR'FOLK I'SLAND, a fmall ifland in the South 
Pacific Ocean, about five leagues in circuit, difcovered by 
Capt. Cook in October 1774, and fo called by him in 
honour of the noble family of Howard. The captain and 
his companions found it uninhabited, and were the firft 
perfons who ever landed upon it. They met with many 
trees and plants common at New' Zealand, and more 
efpecially the flax-plant, which is here more luxuriant 
than in any part of that country; but the chief produce 
is a fort of fpruce-pine, which grows very abundantly, 
and to a large fize, and very ftraight and tall. For about 
two hundred yards from the fhore, the ground was fo 
thickly covered with fhrubs and plants as hardly to be 
penetrable further inland. The foil feemed rich and deep. 
Here were found the fame kind of pigeons, parrots, and 
parroquets, as at New Zealand, rails, and fome fmall birds. 
The fea-fowl canfill of W'hite boobies, gulls, tern, See. 
which breed undifturbed on the fliores and in the cliffs 
-of the rocks. The ifland affords frefti water; and alfo 
cabbage-palm, wood-forrel, fow-thiftle, and famphire. 
The cabbage of the tree fo called is not only a whole- 
fome vegetable, but very palatable, and affords an agree¬ 
able repaft. Thefe cabbage-trees, or palms, were not 
thicker than a man’s leg, and from ten to tu'enty feet 
high. They are of the lame genus with the cocoa-nut 
tree, (fee Areca;) like it, they have large pinnated 
leaves; and the cabbage is, properly fpeaking, the bud of 
the tree; each tree producing but one cabbage, which is 
at the crown, where the leaves fpring out, and is inclofed 
in the ftem. The cutting of the cabbage effectually de- 
ftroys the tree; fo that no more than one can be had 
from the fame ftem. The cocoa-nut tree, and fome others 
of the palm-kind, produce cabbage as well as thefe. The 
coaft does not want fifl), fome of which are excellent. It 
was high water at the full and change, about one o’clock ; 
and the tide rifes and falls upon a perpendicular, about 
four or five feet. 
A fettlement was made on this ifland by a detachment 
from Port Jackfon, under the conduCt of lieutenant King, 
in the year 1788 •. but in anfwer to fome enquires made 
by governor Phillip, Mr. King fays, that “ there is no 
place round the ifland at which a veffel of thirty or forty 
tons can remain at anchor in fecurity all the year round, 
without removing to the lee-fide of the ifland, as the 
wind changes. Anchorage is good all round the ifland, 
as the bottom is a coral-land ; and a harbour might be 
made by cutting a channel through the reef, about 400 
feet long; but it would be necelfary to blow up fome 
/unken rocks, to facilitate the entry.” 
“ Norfolk Ifland, (fays governorPhillips,) " if not ori¬ 
ginally formed, like many other fmall iflands, by the 
eruption of volcanic matter from the’bed of the fea, muft 
doubtlefs have contained a volcano. This concluiion is 
formed from the vaft quantity of pumice-ftone which is 
fcattered in all parts of it, and mixed with the foil. The 
crater, or at leaft fome traces of its former exiftence, will 
probably be found at the fummit of a fmall mountain 
which rifes near the middle of the ifland. To this moun¬ 
tain the commandant has given the name of Mount Pitt. 
The ifland is exceedingly well watered. At or near Mount 
Pitt rifes a ftrong and copious ftream, which, flowing 
through a very fipe valley, divides itfelf into feveral 
branches, each of which retains fufficient force to be 
tiled in turning mills; and in various parts of the ifland 
fprings have been difcovered. The climateis pure, falu- 
brious, and delightful ; preferved from opprefiive heats 
by conftant breezes from the fea ; and of fo mild a tem¬ 
perature throughout the winter, that vegetation continues 
there without interruption, one crop fucceeding another. 
Refrefliing {bowers from time to time maintain perpetual 
verdure : not indeed of grafs, for none has yet been feen 
upon the ifland ; but of the trees, flirubs, and other ve¬ 
getables, w hich in all parts grow abundantly. On the 
leaves of thefe, and of fome kinds in particular, the 
Iheep, hogs, and goats, not only live, but thrive and 
fatten very much. To the falubrity of the air every in¬ 
dividual in this little colony can bear ample teftimony, 
from the uninterrupted ftate of good health which has 
been in general enjoyed. When our fettlers landed, 
there W'as not a Angle acre clear of W'ood in the ifland, 
and the trees were fo bound together by that kind of 
creeping flirub called Jvpple jack, interwoven in all di¬ 
rections, as to render it very difficult to penetrate far 
among them. Fiflt are caught in great plenty, and in 
the proper leafon very fine turtle. The woods are inha¬ 
bited by innumerable tribes of birds, many of them very- 
gay in plumage. The moft ufeful are pigeons, which are 
very numerous ; and a bird not unlike the Guinea-fowl, 
except in colour (being chiefly white); both of which were 
at firft fo tame as to fuffer themfelves to be taken by hand. 
Of plants that afford vegetables for the table, the chief 
are cabbage-palm, the wild plantain, the fern-tree, a 
kind of wild fpinage, and a tree which produces a dimi¬ 
nutive fruit, bearing fome refemblance to a currant. But 
the productions which give the greateft importance to 
Norfolk Ifland are the pines and the flax-plant: the former 
rifing to a fize and perfection unknown in other places, 
and promifingtlie moft valuable fupply of malts and fpars 
for our navy in the Eaft Indies ; the latter not lefs efti- 
mable for the purpofes of making fail-cloth, cordage, and 
even the fineft manufactures, growing in great plenty, 
and with fuch luxuriance as to attain the height of eight 
feet. The pines meafure frequently 180 feet in height, 
and are fometimes nine or ten feet in diameter at the bot¬ 
tom of the trunk. They rife to about eighty feet with¬ 
out a branch : the wood is faid to be of the beft quality, 
almoft as light as that of the beft Norway malls; and the 
turpentine obtained from it is remarkable for purity and 
whitenefs. The fern-tree is found alfo of a great height 
for its fpecies, meafuring from feventy to eighty feet, and 
affords excellent food for the flieepand other fmall cattle. 
When the flax-plant can be worked, it might furnilh a 
fufficiency of cordage for the whole navy of Great Britain; 
and it needs no cultivation, as the ifland abounds with 
it, and frelh leaves {hoot from the roots, A number of 
banana-trees have been found in the ifland. The fugar- 
cane grows very ftrong, and is likely to come to perfec¬ 
tion ; vines, oranges, and lemon-trees, are in a thriving 
ftate; the banana-trees found growing on the ifland thrive 
very well, and thofe which have been planted out frora 
the old trees come to perfection; indeed fome of them 
have already yielded good fruit. That ufeful article of 
food, potatoe, thrives amazingly, and two crops a-year 
may be obtained with eafe. I have feen 120 potatoes at 
one root, eighty of which were larger than an hen’s egg. 
Every 
