their situation might have been but for the providential supply of birds
which they met with, it was impossible to say; to themselves it was too
distressing to be contemplated. On Mount Pitt they were fortunate enough
to obtain, in an abundance almost incredible, a species of aquatic birds,
answering the description of that known by the name of the Puffin. These
birds came in from the sea every evening, in clouds literally darkening
the air, and, descending on Mount Pitt, deposited their eggs in deep
holes made by themselves in the ground, generally quitting, them in the
morning, and returning to seek their subsistence in the sea. From two to
three thousand of these birds were often taken in a night. Their seeking
their food in the ocean left no doubt of their own flesh partaking of the
quality of that upon which they fed; but to people circumstanced as were
the inhabitants on Norfolk Island, this lessened not their importance;
and while any Mount Pitt birds (such being the name given them) were to
be had, they were eagerly sought. The knots of the pine tree, split and
made into small bundles, afforded the miserable occupiers of a small
speck in the ocean sufficient light to guide them through the woods, in
search of what was to serve them for next day's meal. They were also
fortunate enough to lose but a few casks of the provisions brought to the
island in the _Sirius_, by far the greater part being got safely on
shore; but so hazardous was at all times the landing in Sydney Bay, that
in discharging the two ships, the large cutter belonging to the _Sirius_
was lost upon the reef, as she was coming in with a load of casks, and
some women; by which accident, two seamen of the _Sirius_, of whom James
Coventry, tried at Sydney in 1788, for assaulting McNeal on Garden
Island, was one, three women, one child, an infant at the breast whose
mother got safe on shore, and one male convict who swam off to their
assistance, were unfortunately drowned. The weather, notwithstanding this
accident, was so favourable at other times, that in one day two hundred
and ninety casks of provisions were landed from the ships.