NORFOLK ISLAND.

By the mean of several meridional altitudes of the sun, and a great number of lunar observations, the latitude of Sydney-Bay is 29 deg. 04’ 40” south, and its longitude 168 deg. 12’ east, of Greenwich.  The form of the island is a long square, and it contains about fourteen thousand acres:  it is six miles in length and four in breadth.

Face of the country_.—­The island is very hilly, and some of the valleys are tolerably large, considering the size of the island; but most of them are only deep hollows, formed by the steep hills on each side, some of which rise so perpendicular that they cannot be cultivated.  There are some extensive plains on the summits of the hills.  Mount Pitt is the only remarkable hill on the island, and is about two hundred fathoms high.  The cliffs round the island are about forty fathoms high, and are quite perpendicular:  the basis of them, as well as most of the rocks and reefs round the island, is a hard, firm clay, of a very fine texture.  The whole island is covered with a very thick forest, choaked up with underwood, which makes it impassable until it is cleared away.

-Water_.—­The island is well supplied with many streams of very fine water, some of which are sufficiently large to turn a number of mills:  it is probable that most of these rivulets originate from springs near Mount Pitt.  On a hill, near the middle of the island, between Cascade and Sydney bays, there is a pond of fresh water, about half an acre:  there is no rivulet near it, nor can any spring be perceived, yet, in the greatest drought, it constantly remains full, and has a very good taste.  All these streams abound with very fine eels.

-Soil_.—­From the sides of the cliffs which surround the coast, to the summit of Mount Pitt, there is a continuation of the finest soil, varying from a rich brown mould to a light red earth.  Some large stones are found on different parts of the island.

-Air_.—­As a proof of the salubrity and wholesomeness of the air, it is to be remarked, that there had been scarcely any sickness since I landed, nor had we any illness whatever, except a few colds.

-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