I Named It Norfolk
Isle, In Honour Of The Noble Family Of Howard.
It is situated in the
latitude of 29 deg.
2' 30" S. and longitude 168 deg. 16' E. The latter was
determined by lunar observations made on this, the preceding, and following
days; and the former by a good observation at noon, when we were about
three miles from the isle. Soon after we discovered the isle, we sounded in
twenty-two fathoms on a bank of coral sand; after this we continued to
sound, and found not less than twenty-two; or more than twenty-four fathoms
(except near the shore), and the same bottom mixed with broken shells.
After dinner a party of us embarked in two boats, and landed on the island,
without any difficulty, behind some large rocks, which lined part of the
coast on the N.E. side.
We found it uninhabited, and were undoubtedly the first that ever set foot
on it. We observed many trees and plants common at New Zealand; and, in
particular, the flax-plant, which is rather more luxuriant here than in any
part of that country; but the chief produce is a sort of spruce-pine, which
grows in great abundance, and to a large size, many of the trees being as
thick, breast high, as two men could fathom, and exceedingly straight and
tall. This pine is a sort between that which grows in New Zealand, and that
in New Caledonia; the foliage differing something from both, and the wood
not so heavy as the former, nor so light and close-grained as the latter.
It is a good deal like the Quebec pine. For about two hundred yards from
the shore, the ground is covered so thick with shrubs and plants, as hardly
to be penetrated farther inland. The woods were perfectly clear and free
from underwood, and the soil seemed rich and deep.
We found the same kind of pigeons, parrots, and parroquets as in New
Zealand, rails, and some small birds. The sea-fowl are, white boobies,
gulls, tern, &c. which breed undisturbed on the shores, and in the cliffs
of the rocks.
On the isle is fresh water; and cabbage-palm, wood-sorrel, sow-thistle, and
samphire, abounding in some places on the shore, we brought on board as
much of each sort as the time we had to gather them would admit. These
cabbage-trees or palms were not thicker than a man's leg, and from ten to
twenty feet high. They are of the same genus with the cocoa-nut tree; like
it they have large pinnated leaves, and are the same as the second sort
found in the northern parts of New South Wales. The cabbage is, properly
speaking, the bud of the tree; each tree producing but one cabbage, which
is at the crown, where the leaves spring out, and is inclosed in the stem.
The cutting off the cabbage effectually destroys the tree; so that no more
than one can be had from the same stem.
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