332 PRODUCTIONS 1788 28 Sept Timber for shlp- buildinfif. Sirius wrecked, Marcb, 1790. Specimen Hponfor the navy. Live stock to be sent it, as this plant requires a different treatment in tlie dressing to what the EuropesLn flax-plant does. Your lordship, I presume, wjJl order proper persons to be sent out, by which means that island will, in a very short time, be able to furnish a considerable quantity of flax. The pine-trees, in the opinion of the carpenter of the Supply, who is a good judge, are superior to any he has ever seen ; and the island affords excellent timber for ship-building, as well as for masts and yards, with which I make no doubt but his Majesty's ships in the East Indies may be supplied, as likewise with pitch and tar, the only difficulty being the want of a good landing-place ; and I have not the least doubt but that one will be found in the small bays ; or if not^ Mr. King proposes blowing up two or three small rocks which make the reef dangerous ; but if disappointed in both, there will be no danger in the summer-time ; and I am assured by the master of the Supply it will be safer for a ship to load with masts and spars at Norfolk Island than it is in Riga Bay, where so many ships load yearly. The Supply has been twice to the island, but in this season we have blowing weather, and that has prevented our receiving any spars. The Golden Grove will sail the beginning of October, with one petty officer, a sergeant, corporal, and six marines, twenty men and ten women convicts, and eighteen months' provisions, for the island ; and by that ship I expect spars, some of which shall be sent to the Commissioners of his Majesty's Navy that they may be pro- perly examined, as I believe the wood is nearly as light as the best Norway masts, and grows to a most extraordinary size, some of the trees measuiing from one hundred and sixty to one hundred and eighty feet, and rise eighty feet without a brancL The turpen- tine from them is very white, and in the opinion of those who have seen it, is of the purest kind. The fern-tree is likewise found of a good height, measuring from seventy to eighty feet, and affords good> food for the hogs, sheep, and goats, all of which thrive ; and I shall send them what live stock we now have remaining of what was purchased on account of Government. No quadrupeds have been seen, except rats, which at present overrun the island, but which the cats and terrier dogs intended to be sent will, I hope, soon destroy. Until that is done, their crops must suffer very considerably. There are likewise great plenty of cabbage-trees, but not a single blade of grass has been seen on the island, the pigeons, sheep, and goats eating the leaves of the shrubs Digitized by Google
