Q. 16. Have you found any lime or chalk stone?
Ans. None.
Q. 17. Have you been supplied with fish?
Ans. Fish in great numbers, and of a large size, abound all round the island. Some turtle were caught soon after I landed, but the approach of cold weather drove them off. I have not been able to send the boat off so often as I wished, not having men to row, but when she has gone out, a plentiful supply of fish has been obtained.
At sun-rise on the 12th of August, we hoisted the colours, in observance of the birth-day of his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales; and the same day a rood and an half of ground was sown with a peck of seed wheat, which I received by the Supply.
From this time till the 17th, every person was employed in clearing a piece of ground to sow the remainder of the seed wheat, which was brought by the Supply; and this being completed, I sent the labourers to clear away, turn up, and plant half an acre of ground in Arthur's Vale, with Indian corn.
The frequent accidents which had happened to boats here, made me anxious to search for a better landing place, or a place where landing might be practicable, when the surf ran too high to land in Sydney-Bay; and Lieutenant Ball having mentioned one as likely in Cascade-Bay, on the north side of the island, I set out at day-light in the morning, taking three men along with me, in search of it; proposing, at the same time, to examine Ball-Bay in my road. I left the surgeon commanding officer at the settlement, and I cannot help testifying the great satisfaction I felt at having a person of his character, to superintend the work in my absence, and his steadiness and general knowledge, made him a valuable associate. After climbing and descending a number of steep hills, and cutting our way through the thick woods which covered some small plains, we arrived at a gully to the westward of Ball-Bay, about eleven o'clock; from whence we walked round to the bay by the sea-shore, it being low water.
The distance between the two points of Ball-Bay is about a mile and a half; it goes in west-north-west, and is nearly a mile deep. At the distance of two hundred yards from the shore, the bay is entirely surrounded with steep hills, except in the center, where there is a valley, down which, a stream of fresh water runs, and empties itself on the beach. The sides of these hills are cloathed with pines and the flax-plant; the beach is covered with large round stones, under which is a hard bottom, formed by the incrustation of sand and shells. The wind being now at south-south-east, there was not the least surf on the beach; and I apprehend, that when the wind blows from the south-west, which makes very bad landing in Sydney-Bay, the landing is very good here; so that, should I not find Cascade-Bay a more eligible place than this, it was my intention to make a creek on the beach, by removing the stones for the breadth of twenty feet, until the bottom is clear, and as they are very heavy, I do not think it would be liable to fill up again.
I passed the remainder of the day here, and slept under a tent which I had brought with me. The next morning at day-light, we set out from Ball-Bay in order to go to Cascade-Bay, on the north side of the island, which is not more than three miles distant, yet we did not arrive there before five o'clock in the afternoon, quite exhausted and fatigued; having been under the necessity of cutting our way through the entangled underwood, which intercepted us in every direction.