CHAPTER XXII.

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Norfolk Island.-Kings Town.-Occupation of Prisoners.-Mitigation of Sentence.—Freycinetia.-New Zealand Flax. — Agriculture. — Pigeons. —Cats. -Fly-catchers.-Parrots.-Dying Prisoner.-Ansons Bay.-Wistaria.-Ipomœa pendula.- -"The Sisters Pines. Jasminum gracile.-Lagunea Patersonii.-Burial of a Prisoner.-Improvement among the Prisoners.-Provisions. -Sweet Potato.-Profanity.- Perjury. — Madrapores. - Sea Anemonies.Papal Prayers.-Teaching of the Spirit.

THE Settlement on Norfolk Island was formerly called Sydney, but in order to avoid confusion with the capital of N. S. Wales, its name has been changed to Kings Town. It consists of the Commandant's Residence, which is a commodious and substantial dwelling, the Military Barracks, the Penitentiary, the Commissariat Stores, the Jail, the Hospital, and a few other buildings, of stone, and some small dwellings, of weather-board, and a few thatched cottages, of dried grass. These are situated on the narrow flat of the limestone, which is on the south side of the island, and but little above the level of the sea. There are also some weather-board, farm buildings, at a place called Longridge, a mile from the Settlement. Many of the prisoners are employed in quarrying stone, and in building a new Commissariat Store. As no gunpowder is used in blasting the rock, and the stone is raised by means of levers, there is great waste of labour. This is also the case where persons in heavy irons are put to work with those in light ones, or entirely without; the latter having to wait for the tardy movements of the former. Prisoners, generally, are indisposed to industry, and circumstances like

these are taken advantage of by them. The practice of confining them in jails, without work, tends to inure them to idle habits, and is a great evil.

3rd mo. 10th. The Isabella sailed for Sydney, taking back some prisoners, whose time here had expired, and others who had had their sentence shortened, on account of good conduct. Mitigation of sentence of this kind, has been attended with very happy results. When no hope was held out, the prisoners were reckless.

12th. We had an interesting religious interview with the prisoners employed in agriculture, at Longridge, where they were assembled in a thatched building used for a The feeling of solemnity was striking, both while we sat in silence, and while we read the Scriptures, and addressed them.

mess-room.

13th. After visiting the patients in the Hospital, we walked into the forest.-One of the remarkable vegetable productions of this island is Freycinetia Baueriana, or the N. I. Grass Tree. It belongs to the tribe of Pandaneæ, or Screw Pines. Its stem is marked by rings, where the old leaves have fallen off, and is an inch and a half in diameter; it lies on the ground, or climbs like Ivy, or winds round the trunks of trees. The branches are crowned with crests of broad, sedge-like leaves. From the centre of these, arise clusters of three or four oblong, red, pulpy fruit, four inches in length, and as much in circumference. When the plant is in flower, the centre leaves are scarlet, giving a splendid appearance to the plant, which sometimes is seen twining round the trunk of the princely Tree-fern. The New Zealand Flax, Phormium tenax, a large, handsome plant, with sedgy leaves, covers the steep declivities of many parts of this Island, particularly at the tops of the cliffs of the coast. It is suffered to grow to waste, except a little that is converted into small nets and cordage, by the prisoners, for their own use. Two New Zealanders were once introduced, to teach the prisoners to prepare it; but their process was so tedious, that the scheme was aban

doned.

14th. All the agricultural labour here is performed by

the hoe, under the idea of making the work of the prisoners laborious; but they work so idly as to counteract the intention. They are now harvesting a crop of Maize. Scarcely enough of this grain is raised for the settlement, where the supply might be very ample. They are usually separated into gangs of from ten to fifteen men, to prevent combination, but a much larger number are now together. After having a meeting with those employed in agriculture, we joined a company of the officers, who were taking a rustic dinner, on the west coast, at a place adjacent. The cliffs here were high and steep, so that it was difficult to reach the sea, which washes perpetually against the lower rocks. The Domestic Pigeon has become naturalized, and breeds abundantly in these cliffs; as does also the Domestic Cat, under like circumstances, feeding on the Pigeons, Tropic-birds, Gannets, and other birds, and on Rats, which are very numerous. As no gun is allowed to be fired within a mile of the Settlement, many birds are very tame; some here appear naturally fearless. The Flycatcher will come so close, that I have seen it take flies off a persons hat, or off his hands, as he has stood with them behind him. A small green Parrot, with a red ring around the base of its beak, is remarkably tame. I missed my way, in rambling from my companions, and in the evening, saw a pair of these birds fly into a bush, which I opened where they were sitting: they did not seem disturbed at my presence, but kept chattering one to the other. When I imitated their noise, they took no notice, and did not fly, till my hand was within a few inches of their feet. The Lory Parrot, Psittacus Pennantii, which is crimson and blue, is common here, but it is rather shy.

15th. We visited the free Protestant congregation, which consists entirely of the Civil and Military Officers, and their families; no other free persons being allowed to reside on the Island.

16th. We met with a man, who was in the hospital, sinking, from an old chronic disease of the chest: he seemed in a dark state of mind, but not without some glimmerings of light. We encouraged him to give way to his convictions for

sin, and to pray for ability to look upon Jesus, as the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. It is awful to see repentance deferred to a death-bed, when the powers of the mind, as well as those of the body, are weakened by disease.

I rode with Major Anderson to Ansons Bay, on the north side of the Island. This was formerly a landing place, but the sand has been washed away, and large stones remain, too rough for boats to venture upon. The road was chiefly through thick forest, overrun with luxuriant climbers. Among them was a Wistaria, with pea-flowers, of purple and green, and leaves something like those of the Ash. It hangs in festoons of twenty or thirty feet, from the limbs of the trees that support it. One of the most beautiful climbers of the Island, is Ipomea pendula, which has handsome, fingered foliage, and flowers like those of the Major Convolvulus, but of a rosy pink, with a darker tube. The remains of two Pines, which were noted for their magnitude, and were blown down in a storm, were lying by the side of the road. These were called "The Sisters;" they were nearly 200 feet in height.

While on Norfolk Island, I usually took a walk before breakfast, and explored some of the beautiful hills and valleys, many of which are thickly wooded. In the borders of the woods, there is a great variety of beautiful shrubs. Among these is the Slender Jasmine, Jasminum gracile, known in England, as a delicate, green-house plant. Here it climbs over the bushes, or with twisted stems, as thick as a man's wrist, reaches the branches of lofty trees, at fifty feet from the ground, and climbs in their heads. In these cases, it has probably grown up with the trees, the lower branches of which have progressively died away, and left the wreathed stems of the Jasmine, like ropes, hanging from the upper boughs. Scattered on the grassy hills, is Hibiscus or Lagunea Patersonii, which forms a spreading tree of forty feet in height: it is here called White Oak: its leaves are of a whitish green, and its flowers pink, fading to white, the size of a wine-glass. It is perhaps the largest plant known to exist, belonging the Mallow tribe. In a thick wood, I met

with it eighty feet high, and with a trunk sixteen and a half feet round.

18th. I attended the interment of the prisoner, before alluded to, who died yesterday. After the "Burial service," of the Episcopal Church had been read, I spoke a few words to those assembled on the occasion, I was never more struck with the inappropriateness of much of this service, and of its danger of misleading the ignorant, and of lulling them into a state of ease, by holding out the idea, that all would be well with them at last, without distinction as to their past lives. We afterwards had an interview with a considerable number of the prisoners, in the Court-house, in which much openness was felt in preaching the Gospel. 19th. The dryness of the weather having stopped the mill stream, a number of men are employed in grinding Maize, or Indian Corn, in hand mills. This is hard work, in this climate, where the thermometer is usually at about 80°, at this season of the year. We had a religious interview with these men, and were sensible of the love of our Heavenly Father bringing a feeling of sweet solemnity over our minds. This we could not but regard as an evidence of the continued extension of divine mercy to our auditors, and we esteem this feeling as one of the greatest of comforts to ourselves; we had also a religious interview with the agricultural gangs at Longridge. On speaking to an overseer, who had been long on the island, he informed us, that there had been a progressive improvement among the prisoners for some time past; especially, since Major Anderson had availed himself of the means within his reach, for their religious instruction, and had regulated the appropriation of punishments to the nature of the offences committed.

A man spoke to us of the defective quality of their provisions, and complained of the dryness of the maize bread, and the hardness of the salt meat. To be restricted to such diet is felt to be a privation, but the state of the health of the prisoners, shews that it is not unwholesome; and they are not designed to be pampered by indulgence. The supply of vegetables and wild fruits, keeps off scurvy, at this settlement.