convict settlers held farms of various areas, ranging from 70 to 30 acres, while one was limited to 20* Natorally it was an ohject of intense anxiety with Phillip to supply Ids conim unity with food;^ hut with roads to make, wharves, barracks, and houses to build, live stock to breed, and laws to administerj the progress of agriculture was slow* King w^as desired to report how soon Norfolk Island could maintain its inhabitants ; whether it could absorb more ; whether those ah-eady on the island were content to remain ; what land was in cultivation (Aug,, 1788) ; and generally on the state of affairs. He reported that in two years it might be hoped that the existing population might be maintained by home production ; that with twenty more men and women he might make more rapid progi^ess in clearing and cultivating; that he had not found one square yard uaturally clear; that he had^^ **two acres and a-half in barley, and one acre in garden ground ; in Sept, I shall have an acre in Indian corn and rice;" that there was no safe anchorage, and that vessels were compelled to remove to the lee side of the island as the wind changed ; that the productions of the island were timber for shipbuilding, spars, and, *' when the flax- plant [can be worked, a siiiliciency of cordage for the navy of Great Britain, which needs no cultivation, as tbe island abounds with it, and fresh leaves shoot from the roots ; that everyone was satisfied, and no one wished to be reUeved ; that occasionally when men could be spared to row, a plentiful supply of fish was obtained. Rats had been so destructive as to tax the ingenuity of the settlers to thin and destroy them. It was plain that whatever might be done in after- vears, an immediate supply of food was }>rfdiIematicaL By Dee. 1791, nearly 1000 bushels of wheat and 500 of maize w^ere harvested at Norfolk Island; but before
- " Sir J. Banks told the committee of the House of Conimoiis (1770) thai
ft acttleiiieiit ^'miiHt certainly be funiialied on lauding with ti full yfear-s iillowJiliee of vietimls, raiment, and drink.'* Lord Sydney, in i7H(5, told the LuiiIh of the Treaaniy that * 'according to the best opinions that can l>e oldiirint'd, l i» su|i)iused ibat a ijnautity of prorisiona equal to two yeata' eon- HUUiptJon Hhuulil ho prov'ided.*' ('* Hiatorical Recoida of N.S.W./* p. 13,) " ** Hiutorieal Journal of Transactions at Port Jackson and Norfolk laUttd, "At By John Hunter, R,N. London: Stockdale, 1793.
