islanderB had some faint hope that when the Snpplt^ reached Sydney (in March, 1790) she might find that provisions had arrived from England, and might return to the island with relief. In May these hopes ^vere abandoned, and the truth waB surmised. On the 14th May the Lt.-Gov. and his Couneil issued the following order : At a. iiieetiijg of the Governor and Coujicil held to consider of the very exhausted atate of the provisions tii this settlement, and to consult upon what means are most proper to bo pursued lo order to preserve life until such time as we may be relieved by some arrivals from Knglaml, of whiuli we have been so long in expecitation, but probably disJippoiiiteil by some unfortunate accident having happened to the ahipa intentled for thi&i country, the state of the proviaions having l^een laid before the Council, and the alarming situation of the i^ettlement having been taken into the most serious consideration, the following ratio of provisions was unani- mously resolved and ordered to take place on Saturday, the 15th instant, viz.:— Flour, three pounda per week for every grown person. Beef, one pound and a-hall per ditto; or in lien of the beef, aeveutcen ounces of pork. Rice, one pound per ditto. Children aljove twelve months old, half the above ratio. Children under twelve months oId» one pound and a-half of Hour, and a pound of rice per week. In future all crimes wiiicli may by any three niembcrB of the Council be considered aa not of a capital nature, will be punished at their discretion by a further reduction of the present allowance of provisions." Every day the starving people looked wistfully upon the vacant sea, and 'every day they looked in vam. But for a providential discovery of hirds on their own small island (five miles by tln-ee only) they might soon have ceased to look. In April it Avas found that the Norfolk Island petrel, known amongst sailors as the mutton-bird,^^ crowded at night tipon Mount Pitt (so named by P. G. King after the great minister), the highest point of the island, and bond and free went out in parties to captm^e them. Small fires were lighted to attract the attention of the birds. The creatures haviog lighted on the ground, could not rise agahi without the aid of some jutting eminence, and the hungry islanders rushed on them and killed them. So numerous were they, that although between two and three thousand were captured nightly, at the end of May they seemed as plentiful as ever. But who could tell when they would cease to visit a spot which had been changed from the cradle to the grave of their race ? How precarious was the winged supply of food! The birds came to their nests in the ^groimd. The time must come w^hen the visitors would be all
