Page:History of New South Wales from the records, Volume 1.djvu/392

 280 NATURAL PRODUCTS. 1788 15 May. Timber. Palm-trees. Wild flowers. Wild vegetables and fruits. Specimens for Sir Joseph. Flax. No botanist or gardener. Stone and claj'. the difficulties by which they were surrounded, it seemed to him " the most valuable acquisition Great Britain ever made " ; an opinion which was not based on first impressions only, but on a careful examination of the country, day by day. The timber is well described in Captain Cook's Voyage, but un- fortunately it has one very bad quality, which puts us to great incon- venience; I mean the large gum-tree, which splits and warps in such a manner when used green, and to which necessity obliged us, that a store-house boarded up with this wood is rendered useless. The timber which in its growth resembles the fir-tree warps less, but we are already obliged to fetch it from some distance, and it will not float. Here are a variety of palm-trees, and the heaths that are free from timber are covered with a variety of the most beautiful flowering shrubs. Wild celery, spinage, samphire, a small wild fig, and several cherries, which have proved very whole- some, particularly the leaves of a small shrub which is found in such plenty that it has not yet failed us, as most of the others have done. What seeds could be collected are sent to Sir Joseph Banks, as likewise the red gum taken from the large gum-tree by tapping, and the yellow gum which is found on the dwarf palm-tree. The small quantity of flax that has been procured is sufficient to show the quality, but the flax plant described by Captain Cook I have never met with, nor had the botanists that accompanied Mon- sieur de la F6rouse found it when I saw them, and which was some time after they arrived. And here, my lord, I must beg leave to observe with regret that, being myself without the smallest know- ledge of botany, I am without one botanist, or even an intelligent gardener, in the colony j it is not therefore in my power to give more than a very superficial accoimt of the produce of this country, which has such a variety of plants that I cannot, with all my igno- rance, help being convinced that it merits the attention of the naturalist and the botanist. The stone of this country is of three sorts; freestone, which appears equal to Portland stone ; a bad firestone ; and a stone that appears to contain a large proportion of iron. We have good clay for bricks, but no chalk or limestone has yet been found. The relations between the new arrivals and the native inhabitants of the country being a matter of the highest Digitized by Google