ey 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.

This turtle had been recently wounded between the shoulders
with a kind of peg; which circumstance, together with some pieces
of canoes, a wooden image resembling a man, and a fresh
cocoa-nut, found in Ball-Bay, induced me to suppose that there is
a considerable island undiscovered, not far from the eastward of
Norfolk-Island. The Indian-corn sown during the last and present
month, was now all up, and lik