hearing this report, Lieutenant Ball and myself went to
examine the place, and found it exactly to answer the master's
description. The shore, close to the beach, was covered with a
long kind of iris, within which was an impenetrable forest: the
soil was good. Here I resolved to fix, and was pleased at having
found a place where I could make a commencement. I had no doubt
but water would be procured, and that at no great distance from
the spot; but as it was very late in the evening, I returned on
board the Supply, and she was soon after brought to an anchor in
20 fathoms, over a sandy bottom.

At day-light on the 6th, I left the Supply with two boats,
having in them all the persons belonging to the settlement,
together with the tents a part of the provisions, and some of the
most useful tools; all which we landed, and began clearing a
small piece of ground to erect the tents on: the colours were
hoisted, and before sun-set, every person and article belonging
to the settlement were on shore, and the tents pitched. Before
the colours were hauled down, I assembled my small colony under
them, (Lieutenant Ball and some of his officers being present,)
and drank the healths of his Majesty, the Queen, the Prince of
Wales, and success to the settlement: and, as we had no other way
of testifying our loyalty, we gave three cheers on the
occasion.

The wind blew very hard the whole of the 7th, and the surf ran
so high that no boat could land: the Supply still remained at
anchor in the road. This day I began to clear a piece of ground
for sowing some seeds; the spot, which I fixed on for that
purpose, is on the east side of an hill which has a tolerable
easy ascent, and the soil is rich and deep. Soon after landing,
we found a very fine rivulet of water, which ran close at the
back of the ground where the settlement was made.

I took the first opportunity of examining the island around
me, and found it almost impenetrable from the size of the trees,
and the entangled state of their roots, which were in general two
feet above the ground, and ran along it to a considerable
distance. On the spaces of ground unoccupied by these roots,
there grew a kind of supple-jack, which in general was as thick
as a man's leg; these supple-jacks ran up the trees, and as they
grew in every direction, they formed an impenetrable kind of
net-work; bending some trees to the ground, and then taking root
again, they twined round other trees in the