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Article ACCOUNT OF NORFOLK ISLAND. ← Page 2 of 3 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Account Of Norfolk Island.
-content with their present situation ; at times they express a wish to return to their native country , which will be complied with by the first favourable opportunity that offers . Various are the accounts respecting this colony ( and not more so than the causes which , have produced them ); some of them , I am convinced fro want of competent knowledgeor sufficient
infor-, m a , mation , on the subject they spoke of . This has been the- case with some in my opinion , as I believe them to be men of the greatest veracity , and incapable of misrepresenting things . But that there have been misrepresentations is beyond a doubt , and many of them so unfavourable to the colony , that nothing but time and facts can obliterate themHowevermost le allow the climate to be very
. , peop fine , and that there are considerable tracts of fine ground ; and the general opinion is , that , were a sufficient number of black " cattle im--ported , the colony would . soon amply supply itself . As to this island , all agree that the soil is excellent ; all that it wants is a o-ood harbour , and much could be done to remove this incon .
venience , should the place prove to be an object worth that attention . To conclude this part of my letter , I am of opinion that New South Wales is not sufficiently . known to authorize any one to give a decisive account of the country , as there is . not above thirty miles known one way , and not more than twenty the other ; which is but a speckspeaking of such an immense tract of country as New
Hol-, land is . ' The two New Zealanders , Tugee and Odoo , having expressed the greatest anxiety to return to their native country , and the governor being desirous that they should return impressed with those favourable ideas which they had hitherto imbibed , of the friendship and kind treatment they had received at this islandwas equally anxious that
, their wishes should be complied with ; and on the afternoon of Friday , the ' 8 th of March , Lieutenant-governor King , the P . ev . Mr . Bain , myself , Mr . Chapman , the two natives , two non-commissioned officers , and seventeen privates belonging to the New South Wales corps , embarked on board the ' Britannia ; the wind being fair , made sail about four o ' clock P . M . The weather continued fine and the
wind favourable , nothing particular occurring until Tuesday morning , when we made the Three Kings , a small island which lies off the north-end of New Zealand ; about eleven o ' clock we were abreast ot North Cape ; as soon as the bay opened , the natives came off in their canoes , and came ' along-side of the ship with the greatest confidence , unprovided with any warlike instruments , except afew-which they brought to dispose of . By evening there were no less than
seven of these canoes along-side , containing , upon an average , 20 men each ; they exchanged their cloth , flax , fishing-hooks , lines , & c . & c , with the people on board , for knives , axes , pieces of iron , hoops , & c . & c . This traffic was carried on with the strictest honesty with both parties until the evening put an end $ . 0 jt . when the canoes returned to the shore , Vot . Ill , G
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Account Of Norfolk Island.
-content with their present situation ; at times they express a wish to return to their native country , which will be complied with by the first favourable opportunity that offers . Various are the accounts respecting this colony ( and not more so than the causes which , have produced them ); some of them , I am convinced fro want of competent knowledgeor sufficient
infor-, m a , mation , on the subject they spoke of . This has been the- case with some in my opinion , as I believe them to be men of the greatest veracity , and incapable of misrepresenting things . But that there have been misrepresentations is beyond a doubt , and many of them so unfavourable to the colony , that nothing but time and facts can obliterate themHowevermost le allow the climate to be very
. , peop fine , and that there are considerable tracts of fine ground ; and the general opinion is , that , were a sufficient number of black " cattle im--ported , the colony would . soon amply supply itself . As to this island , all agree that the soil is excellent ; all that it wants is a o-ood harbour , and much could be done to remove this incon .
venience , should the place prove to be an object worth that attention . To conclude this part of my letter , I am of opinion that New South Wales is not sufficiently . known to authorize any one to give a decisive account of the country , as there is . not above thirty miles known one way , and not more than twenty the other ; which is but a speckspeaking of such an immense tract of country as New
Hol-, land is . ' The two New Zealanders , Tugee and Odoo , having expressed the greatest anxiety to return to their native country , and the governor being desirous that they should return impressed with those favourable ideas which they had hitherto imbibed , of the friendship and kind treatment they had received at this islandwas equally anxious that
, their wishes should be complied with ; and on the afternoon of Friday , the ' 8 th of March , Lieutenant-governor King , the P . ev . Mr . Bain , myself , Mr . Chapman , the two natives , two non-commissioned officers , and seventeen privates belonging to the New South Wales corps , embarked on board the ' Britannia ; the wind being fair , made sail about four o ' clock P . M . The weather continued fine and the
wind favourable , nothing particular occurring until Tuesday morning , when we made the Three Kings , a small island which lies off the north-end of New Zealand ; about eleven o ' clock we were abreast ot North Cape ; as soon as the bay opened , the natives came off in their canoes , and came ' along-side of the ship with the greatest confidence , unprovided with any warlike instruments , except afew-which they brought to dispose of . By evening there were no less than
seven of these canoes along-side , containing , upon an average , 20 men each ; they exchanged their cloth , flax , fishing-hooks , lines , & c . & c , with the people on board , for knives , axes , pieces of iron , hoops , & c . & c . This traffic was carried on with the strictest honesty with both parties until the evening put an end $ . 0 jt . when the canoes returned to the shore , Vot . Ill , G