m FAMINE AT NORFOLK I8LAND. itted to bee . passenger in the Neptanc, The early I 3C0mG 3 chronicler, Collins, says of Jiim, ** There came Neptime a person of the name of Wentworth, who being desirous of some employment in this country, was sent (1st Aug.) to Norfolk Island as an assistant to the surgeon there, bein*:^ reputed to have the necessary requisites for such a situation.** i On the 28th July, Phillip sent the jHstinlan to land stores ^B at Norfolk Ishxnd, and to proceed to China to load with tea^ for the En^^lish Government, On the 1st of August the Surprise was sent to Norfolk lyland with thirty-five male and 150 female convicts. Before following the fur tunes of Norfolk Island, it may be stated that the Supph/^ ^ surpassing expectation, returned to Sydney on the " 19th September with many much-prized articles for the colonists; that the Wanksamhepd, hired by Lieut. Ball to follow him, arrived with her stores on the 17th Dec.;i that for the Hour purchased at Batavia, 10|d. per lb, were 1 demanded ; and that consequently Ball had procured (instead of 70,000) 200,000 lbs, of rice, his purchases altogether amounting to nearly £12,000 sterling. To conclude the record of starvation and endurance it is necessary to return to the inhabitants of Norfolk Island* wdio were in March left by the Sfipjdtf. The ill-fated Sirim still held together even in Mav, and when weather per- mitted a few sailors went on board to save whatever articles they could take on shore. On the 4th June (Captain Hunter writes): '*Oar distress did not make us forget that this was the birthday of our beloved sovereign. In the morning colours were displayed, and at noun three volleys of musketry were fired by the marines as an acknowledg- ment that we were Britons^ wlio, however distant and dis- tressed, revered our king, and loved our country/* Disorder and thieWng were severely punished. The sailors of the Sirina made fishingdiiies and hooks, and fished when the ^ weather permitted. A party of marines, and aU the convicts, H cleared ground for corn and potatoes, but Hunter wrote :
- 'The people in general were reduced so low in bodily
strength for want of a sufficiency of food that louch work could not be expected,*' Much ground was planted with jjolaioes, as likely to yield the promptestcrop. The lonely
