, the trees being for the most part decayed, and when
cut down were immediately warped and split by the heat of the sun. A
species of pine appeared to be the best, and was chiefly used in the
frame-work of houses, and in covering the roofs, the wood splitting
easily into shingles.

The _Supply_ returned in the afternoon of the 25th from Lord Howe Island,
without having procured any turtle, the weather being much too cold and
the season too late to find them so far to the southward.

To the southward and eastward of Lord Howe Island there is a rock, which
may be seen at the distance of eighteen leagues, and which from its shape
Lieutenant Ball has named Ball Pyramid.

On the 26th a soldier and a sailor were tried by the criminal court of
judicature for assaulting and dangerously wounding James McNeal, a
seaman. These people belonged to the _Sirius_, and were employed on the
island where the ship's company had their garden, the seamen in
cultivating the ground, and the soldier in protecting them; for which
purpose he had his firelock with him. They all lived together in a hut
that was built for them, and on the evening preceding the assault had
received their week's allowance of spirits, with which they intoxicated
themselves, and quarrelled. They were found guilty of the assault, and,
as pecuniary damages were out of the question, were each sentenced to
receive five hundred lashes.

Farther and still more unpleasant consequences of the ill-treatment which
the natives received from our people were felt during this month. On the
evening of the 21st a convict belonging to the farm on the east side was
brought into the hospital, very dangerously wounded with a barbed spear,
which entered about the depth of three inches into his back, between the
shoulders. The account he gave of the transaction was, that having
strayed to a cove beyond the farm with another man, who did not return
with him, he was suddenly wounded with a spear, not having seen any
natives until he received the wound. His companion ran away when the
natives came up, who stripped him of all his clothes but his trousers,
which they did not take, and then left him to crawl into the camp. A day
or two afterwards the clothes of the man that was missing were brought
in, torn, bloody, and pierced with spears; so that there was every reason
to suppose that the poor wretch had fallen a sacrifice to his own folly
and the barbarity of the natives.

On the 30th an o