Timber and trees.--There are only five sorts of trees on the island which can be called timber; viz. the pine, a wood resembling the live oak; a yellow wood; a hard black wood; and a wood resembling the English beech. The pine-trees are of a great size, many of them being from one hundred and eighty to two hundred and twenty feet high, and from four to eight feet diameter some distance from the ground. Those trees, which measure from one hundred to one hundred and eighty feet high, are in general sound, and are without branches for eighty or ninety feet, but the upper part is too knotty and hard to be useful; indeed, it frequently happens, that after twenty feet have been cut off from the butt, the trees becomes rotten and shaky, and is also very brittle; for which reason, no dependance can be put on them for masts or yards. The turpentine which exudes freely from the bark, is of a milk-white glutinous substance; but it is rather remarkable, that there is none in the timber. We tried to render this turpentine useful in paying boats, and other purposes, but without success; as it would neither melt nor burn: we also tried to make pitch or tar, by burning the old pines; but there being no turpentine in the wood, our efforts were useless. The pine is very useful in buildings, and being dispersed in various parts of the island, is well calculated for such buildings as hereafter may be necessary: from what I have been able to observe, it is very durable, as that which we had used for erecting houses, stood the weather very well. Two cobles were built of this wood, one of which was built in June, 1788: she was water-soaked, owing to our want of any kind of stuff to pay her with.
The live-oak, yellow-wood, black-wood, and beech, are all of a close grain, and durable; in general they are from fourteen to twenty inches diameter. The branches of the live-oak are fit for timbers and knees of boats or small vessels.
There are a variety of other small trees on the island, but as they are not useful, it is unnecessary to enumerate them here; though I should not omit the fern-tree, the bark of which serves many purposes, instead of twine and rope. The cabbage-palm were in great plenty when I first landed on the island, but, by continual cutting, they were almost destroyed. There is a plant among the underwood, which produces a kind of pepper; its leaves are broad, and have an aromatic, pungent taste: the core which contains the seed, shoots out between the leaf and the stalk, and is in general two or three inches long, and full of small seeds, which have nearly the same taste as the leaves; but, on their being dried, the smell and taste leaves them: it is also difficult to find them in a state of ripeness, as the parroquets destroy them before they can arrive at any degree of perfection.
The flax-plant of New Zealand, grows spontaneously, and in great quantities on many parts of the island, but chiefly on the coasts and in the vallies near the sea: the leaves of this plant, when full grown, are from six to eight feet long, and six inches wide at the bottom: each plant contains seven leaves, and a woody stalk rises from the center, which bears the flowers: it seeds annually, and the old leaves are forced off by the young one every year. The method of soaking and preparing European flax and hemp, had been tried, but with no other effect than separating the vegetable part from the fibres; and a ligneous substance still remaining, it could not be reduced to an useful state. Some lines have been made of it, but they were not very strong; though the flax appears capable of being worked into a very fine substance, if the method of preparing it were known.
Insects.--These have already been described. The ground is much infested by the grub-worm, which are very destructive to the growth of vegetables: they are mostly troublesome about the spring. Various methods have been tried to destroy these vermin, but without effect. The caterpillar has also been very troublesome in the spring; having destroyed acres of Indian corn and acres of wheat: they came in upon the grain quite suddenly, and after remaining three weeks, they went away with the same rapidity.
Fish.--The coasts of the island abound with very fine fish, which are principally the snapper, and weigh from four to eight pounds each. A few fish are at times caught from the shore; this, however, happens but seldom; so that a supply of fish must depend on the weather and the surf permitting boats to go out. In moderate weather, boats might land in Collins's-Bay, on Phillip-Island, where a great quantity of fish might be cured, from March to September; after which time the fly prevents it.
Seasons.--The spring is very visible in August, but the trees on many parts of the island are in a constant succession of flowering and seeding the whole year round. The summer is very hot: I had no thermometer to determine the degree of heat, but it is excessive. From the 23d of September, 1789, to the 22d of February, 1790, not one drop of rain fell, excepting on two days in December; but it should be remarked, that we had no drought in the former year. All the grain, and the European plants seeded in December. From February to August may be called the rainy season; not that I think there is any regular time of rains during these months, as the weather is sometimes very fine for a fortnight together; but when the rain does fall, it pours in torrents. I do not recollect more than three claps of thunder, or lightning, during the time I remained on the island. The winter, (which may be said to commence in April, and end in July,) is very pleasant; there is never any frost; but when the south-west winds blow, which are very frequent and violent in these months, the air is raw and cold. It is very remarkable, that during some days in December and January, the weather has been much colder than in the winter months. The south-east, and east winds are very parching and dry, as no dew falls when those winds prevail.
Winds.--During the winter months, the wind is mostly from south to west, blowing with great violence for a week together; afterwards it veers round to the southward and south-east, which brings fine weather for a few days, then it veers to east, north-east, and north-west, blowing in heavy gales, and generally accompanied with violent torrents of rain: after which it shifts to south-west: indeed, I do not remember one instance of the wind coming to the north-east, round by west. The south-east wind blows during the summer with very little variation, and sometimes very strong.
Coasts of the island.--The coasts of the island are in general steep to, and (excepting Sydney, Anson, Ball, and Cascade Bays,) are inaccessible; being surrounded by steep cliffs, which rise perpendicularly from the sea. A number of large rocks lie scattered about close to the shore, on which a continual surf breaks with great force.
SYDNEY-BAY, (which was so named after Lord Viscount Sydney,) lies on the south side of the island, and here the settlement was formed: this bay is formed by Point Hunter and Point Ross, which lie east half north, and west half south of each other, and are about a mile and three-quarters asunder. A reef of clay and coral extends from Point Hunter, at the distance of 150 yards from the shore, and parallel to it, for about three-quarters of a mile: close to the back of this reef, there is four fathoms water; it terminates abreast of the settlement with a corner, round which is the landing place; but, as the surf breaks with great violence on the reef, it sometimes breaks into the passage off the corner, so that landing is then impossible. The landing in this bay, entirely depends on the state of the sea without, and the direction of the wind; great attention should also be paid to the signals from the shore. I have seen the landing, for a month together, as good as could be wished; and sometimes a very heavy surf would continue for a fortnight: on the whole, the best time for landing is from half ebb to half flood, and an easterly, north-east, and north-west wind, generally make smooth water.