similar to that at Ball-Bay, on which landing is very good, with southerly winds, and they generally prevail during the winter.  Spars might be sent off from hence with great ease; but should the island remain settled, it will be necessary to make the landing at this place more convenient than it is at present.  We passed the night in the valley above the cascade:  this valley is extensive, and a very large deep rivulet runs through it.

At day-light on the 19th, we set out on our return to Sydney-Bay, where we arrived at four in the afternoon, with scarcely a rag to cover ourselves, the cloaths being torn off our backs by the briars.

I observed the soil to be very good in every part of the island I visited during the excursion, and it was well watered; but the woods were almost impassable.  There is a deal of level ground on the tops of the hills, and most of them will admit of cultivation; and where they are too steep for that purpose, the timber which grows on them might he reserved for fuel.

The wheat which we had sown on the 12th and 17th, was all out of the ground by the 24th, and had a very promising appearance.

Early in the morning of the 25th, the surgeon, with six men, went to Ball-Bay, to make a commencement on the creek; taking a week’s provisions and four tents along with them.

I visited this party on the 27th, and found they had made good progress, considering that their labour was greatly retarded by neap tides, and an easterly wind, which threw a great surf upon the beach.

The surgeon and his party returned on the 30th, and the next morning, at day-light, I set out, with some men, to see what further could be effected:  we got to the bay by half past eight o’clock, and found the tides of the preceding day had thrown a number of loose small stones into the cut.  As the tide ebbed, I directed the labourers to clear away a number of large stones which lay in the entrance of the cut; and at low water, all the stones were removed as far out as possible, which was compleated at five o’clock in the afternoon.  The out was about three feet deep, and at half tide there was upwards of six feet at the entrance:  with any other wind than between south-west and north-west, there is a surf on the beach, which often breaks with so much violence, as to render any attempt to land highly dangerous.  As I found every thing done at this place, which could be effected with the small number of men I had, we returned to Sydney-Bay on the 3d.

Hitherto, the people on the settlement had not done much work for themselves; and, all the good seed of Indian corn being sown, I gave every person liberty from this time till the 14th, to clear away their gardens, and sow them.  For four days past, a single turtle had been observed on the beach; I was loath to turn it, hoping it would draw others on, but finding that did not happen, it was turned on the 6th day, and brought to the settlement, where it was served out as usual.