Letter received by Banks from Arthur Phillip, 3 December 1791 (Series 37.20) - No. 0008

[Page 8]

at present the old vines in my garden are loaded with very fine fruit. One Orange & two Fig trees are also in good fruit, & if I except the Banana, I do not know any fruit which has been tried, that does not thrive as well here, as it does in any part of the world. When Mr King found the Banana trees in Norfolk Island, he thought they appeared to have been planted in regular order, & from having found a good Cocoa nut on the beach, & part of a Canoe, with one of those figures so common in the islands you visited, he supposed some inhabited island was at no great distance. Several stone chisels have been lately found on the island, & I think it is probable that Norfolk island