CHARLOCK, the English name of the RAPHANUS; it is a very troublesome weed among corn, be-
ing more frequent than almost any other. There are
two principal kinds of it; the one with a yellow flower,
the other with a white. Some fields are particularly
subject to be over-run with it, especially those which
have been manured with cow-dung alone, that being a
manure very favourable to the growth of it. The
farmers in some places are so sensible of this, that they
always mix horse-dung with their cow-dung, when
they use it for arable land. When barley, as is often
the case, is infested with this weed to such a degree as
to endanger the crop, it is a very good method to
mow down the charlock in May, when it is in flower,
cutting it so low as just to take off the tops of the
leaves of barley with it: by this means the barley will
get up above the weed; and people have got four
quarters of grain from an acre of such land as would
have scarce yielded any thing without this expedient.
Where any land is particularly subject to this weed,
the best method is to sow it with grass-feed, and make
a pasture of it; for then the plant will not be trouble-
some, it never growing where there is a coat of grass
upon the ground.
Queen CHARLOTTE'S ISLAND, an island in the
South Sea, first discovered by captain Wallis in the
Dolphin, in 1767, who took possession of it in the
name of King George III. Here is good water, and
plenty of cocoa-nuts, palm-nuts, and scurvy-grass. The
inhabitants are of a middle stature, and dark com-
plexion, with long hair hanging over their shoulders;
the men are well made, and the women handsome; their
clothing is a kind of coarse cloth, or matting,
which they fasten about their middle.
Queen CHARLOTTE'S ISLANDS, a cluster of South-sea
islands discovered in 1767 by captain Carteret. He
counted seven, and there were supposed to be many
more. The inhabitants of these islands are described
as extremely nimble and vigorous, and almost as well
qualified to live in the water as upon land: they are
very warlike; and, on a quarrel with some of captain
Carteret's people, they attacked them with great re-
solution; mortally wounded the master and three of
the sailors; were not at all intimidated by the fire-
arms; and at last, notwithstanding the aversion of
captain Carteret to shed blood, he was obliged to se-
cure the watering places by firing grape-shot into the
woods, which destroyed many of the inhabitants.
These islands lie in S. Lat. 11°. E. Long. 164°. They
are supposed to be the Santa Cruz of Mandana, who
died there in 1595.