338 ISLAND WOMEN. 1788 The fish begin to return with the warm weather, but I fear we 28 Sept shall never be able to save any part of the provisions by the quantity that wUl be taken. Rains. The rainy season is, I hope, nearly over, and though we have had very heavy rains they have not been more frequent than was expected, and were chiefly confined to a few days near the full and change of the moon. Climate and The climate is equal to the finest in Europe, and we very seldom fruit-trees. i^g^yQ ^^y fogs. All the plants and fruit-trees brought from the Brazil and the Cape that did not die on the passage thrive exceed- ingly well ; and we do not want vegetables, good in their kind, which are natural to the country.* Island With respect to the sending to the islands for women, your lordship will, I believe, think that in the present situation of this colony it would be only bringing them to pine away a few years in misery ; and I am very sorry to say that those we have are most of them very abandoned wretches ; still, more women will be necessary when more convicts are sent out •stone houses Stone houses that will not be in danger from fire -will, if pos- and church, gj^jg^ ^q erected in the course of the summer, as likewise a place No lime- of worship ; and if ships coming out bring limestone as ballast these very necessary works will go on fast At present we are obliged to lay the bricks and stones in clay, and of course to make the walls of an extraordinary thickness ; and even then they are not to be depended on. known twelve men employed for five days in grubbing up one tree. — Journal, p. 158. Another illustration may be found in the first edition of Dr. Lang's Historical Account of New South Wales, 1834, vol. i, p. 30 :— **0n tie flummit of the ridge on which the Scots' Church was erected, in the year 1824, a large blue-gum tree of about six feet in diameter had been cut down about thirty-five years before ; but the stump, which had been left standing in the ground, was still to all appearances as fresh, and the root as firmlv fixed in the soil, as if it had been cut down onl^ a few days previous. It was found necessary to remove the stump, as it interfered with the line of the foundation of the proposed building, and for this purpose a pile of wood and turf was heaped over it and set fire to ; but it took about ten days or a fortnight to bum out the old root."
- Among the wild vegetables referred to, Surgeon White mentions "a
plant growing on the sea-shore, greatly resembling sage ; samphire, and a kind of wild spinage, besides a small shrub which we distinguish by the name of the vegetable-tree, and the leaves of which prove rather a pleasant substitute for vegetables." The sweet tea plant he describes as "a creep- ing kind of vine, running along the ground ; the taste is sweet, exactly like the liquorice-root of the shops." It was largely used as a substitute for tea, and abo for medical purposes. — Journal, pp. 195-6 ; post, p. 345n. ■Stone. Digitized by Google
