Folios 24-28: Surgeon's general remarks. (continued): In the valleys and on the highest...

Folios 24-28: Surgeon's general remarks. (continued):

In the valleys and on the highest ranges of hills there were thick forests filled with lemon, guava, blood wood, palms, pines and tall tree ferns. The shrubs and plants are numerous and many were particular to the island though others were the same as in New Zealand and Australia, the surgeon hypothesizing that 'it is most probable that the vegetation of this little island has been received from these two sources'. There were numerous roads through the island, all neatly kept and of a rich brown colour and, at parts, shaded by avenues of oaks and pines. At the Government farm were fields of oats, turnips, sweet potatoes, maize etc. With fine cattle and large flocks of sheep grazing on the grass covered hills. However, there were no wild animals on the island and few kinds of land birds though the domestic pigeon had become wild in great numbers. There was also the beautiful New Zealand pigeon and 'parrots with gorgeous plumage' were common with other migratory birds appearing occasionally. There were also a large number of sea birds, amongst which was the 'most elegant' black and white sea swallow. At the time of this visit the surgeon states that the convict establishment on the island was very small containing only three hundred prisoners and about two hundred free residents that included one hundred thirty soldiers. There was also a rumour that the government intended to remove the convicts entirely and supply the island with the [Pitcairn?] Islanders (the descendants of the mutineers of the Bounty) which the surgeon believed would 'convert what now might be considered a den of crime into a perfect paradise of a place'. As this surgeon writes, these convicts were of the very worst description though those who behaved well were treated kindly and were able to work unfettered, the worst being heavily chained in solitary cells. Some criminals were punished for up to five years of this solitary confinement where they would pass three months in solitary confinement, and three months working alternately. Though there was very little sickness on the island, the surgeon was informed that many convicts would fake diseases or produce ulcers 'so that they may attain the luxury of comfortable quarters for a time in the hospital'. The surgeon then speaks of the specific case of the death of a convict that took place while he was there which greatly upset the civil surgeon of the island as that man wanted to dispel the belief amongst the convicts that 'no convict on Norfolk Island ever did or ever would recover after a sever surgical operation' though this did not surprise the surgeon of the Pandora as he believed that men who suffered from long confinement were broken down in both body and mind, therefore making them very bad patients with little stamina or moral courage. The surgeon goes on to talk of the kindness of the people of that island and their hospitality in giving the ship enough vegetables for the entire crew for a week as they sailed back to Auckland. So, too, does he make mention of the loss of the cook who supposedly fell overboard and drowned during this part of their journey. The ship then cruised to the East Coast where they spent a couple days at Coromandel where they were able to visit the gold fields there which were amidst dense forest. There they 'washed the sand from the bottom of the small streams and also fragments of quartz' to which small particles of gold were adhered. These gold fields extended over some forty miles of heavily forested and mountainous land and had yet been very little explored though the surgeon believed this would change in a short time when labour in the colony would become more plentiful. He then contradicts himself in saying these mines did not produce lucrative enough work to induce men to come and work. Last, there is mention of the health of crew on board the ship over the course of its year-long journey. He states that at the beginning of the year there was an epidemic of catarrh and influenza of great severity that prevailed throughout the country that attacked all ages and classes, both Englishmen and Natives with some of the former and many of the latter died from its effects. Dogs, horses and cattle suffered a similar complaint and several died.