NORFOLK, a town of the United States of North America, Virginia, on the north bank of the Elizabeth River, 32 miles from the sea, and 106 S.E. of Richmond. The site is low and flat; the streets are broad, but somewhat irregular, and lined with handsome houses of stone or brick. The City Hall is adorned in front with six granite columns, and has a dome 110 feet high; the Mechanics' Hall is a building in the Gothic, and the Military Academy in the Grecian style. There are fourteen churches, one of which has a spire 200 feet high, nine seminaries, two reading-rooms, three banks, an hospital, and an orphan asylum. The harbour is large, secure, easily entered, and defended by two forts. Norfolk is the principal commercial town in Virginia, and, along with Portsmouth, on the other side of the river, the chief naval station in the United States. Its trade is facilitated by the canal through the Dismal Swamp to the south, and communication is kept up with New York and Philadelphia by steamers. The shipping of the harbour, 30th June 1852, had a total tonnage of 7716 registered, and 14,448 licensed and enrolled. The number of vessels that entered in that year was 85, tonnage 20,778; those that cleared 129, tonnage 24,447. In the same year six vessels were admeasured, with a tonnage of 408. Pop. (1850) 14,326; (1853) about 16,000.
NORFOLK ISLAND is the largest of a group of islands in the South Pacific Ocean, consisting of Norfolk, Nepean, and Philip islands, together with several scattered islets, or rather bare rocks, called the Bird Islands; S. Lat. (of the settlement on the south of Norfolk Island) 29. 10., E. Long. 167. 58. It is 600 miles W.N.W. of Auckland, and 900 N.E. of Sydney. These islands appear to rise from the surface of a submarine table-land, which extends for 18 miles to the N. and 25 to the S. of the group, with an average breadth of 18 miles, and an area of nearly 1000 square miles. The depth of water over this tract is remark-
ably uniform, not varying more than five fathoms; and it rises abruptly about 1000 or 1200 feet from the bottom of the surrounding ocean. Philip Island is about 3½ miles south of Norfolk Island, and is of basaltic formation, rising to the height of 900 feet at the south, and sloping towards the north. Its area is about 500 acres. Nepean Island, which is separated by a channel 800 yards wide from the largest of the group, is entirely of coralline structure, and has a height of about 50 feet from the sea, and an area of 12 acres. Norfolk Island itself is not quite 5 miles in length, with an average breadth of 2½. Its area is about 8960 acres, and its general elevation is about 400 feet above the sea, while in the N.W. the double summit of Mount Pitt attains the height of 1050 feet. The surface is broken by numerous gullies with steeply-sloping sides, and through these flow several streams, two of which have formed, by the accumulation of soil between the sea and the hills, a narrow strip of level ground, on which the settlement stands. The soil, consisting of decomposed basalt, is everywhere extremely rich; even on the higher parts it is fertile, and in the valleys the vegetation is most luxuriant. The principal tree, the Norfolk Island pine, resembling in appearance the Norway spruce, grows on all parts of the island, and attains in some places a height of 200 feet, and a circumference of 30 feet. Maple, ironwood, a small species of palm called the Norfolk Island cabbage-tree, and a fern having a height of 40 feet and fronds 11 feet in length, also grow in abundance. The underwood of the forests consists chiefly of lemons and guavas; and many plants originally exotics now grow wild here. Bananas, yams, sweet potatoes, and arrow-root, though tropical plants, flourish on the island; and oranges, coffee, maize, and rye may be raised. The amount of land under cultivation on the 31st December 1852 was 16 acres of sweet potatoes, 40 of maize, and 2 of garden ground. All sorts of domestic poultry thrive here; and there are bees which produce excellent honey. There were, on the 31st December 1852, 30 horses, 721 horned cattle, 4140 sheep, and 125 swine; but a considerable number of these have since been removed. The climate is healthy, and the heat is tempered by the sea-breeze: the temperature is rarely below 65°. Excellent roads have been made across the island in various directions, and bridges across the streams; while extensive farm buildings of a solid nature have been erected in various places. Norfolk Island, originally uninhabited, was first visited by Captain Cook in 1774; and in 1787 it was colonized partly by convicts and partly by free-men from New South Wales; but in 1810 it was abandoned, and all the buildings were destroyed. In 1825 it was again used as a penal settlement, and occupied by fifty soldiers, six civilians, and fifty criminals; but this establishment was finally broken up in June 1856, when the inhabitants of Pitcairn's Island, the descendants of the mutineers of the Bounty, 194 in number, settled on this island. The origin and present condition of this small community are unique. Their whole stock of knowledge and instruction was derived from a common seaman, who was able to read and write, and being in possession of a Bible, undertook to teach the children of the original mutineers, of whom he was the last survivor. These people have thus grown up, living peacefully and happily, in obedience to the precepts of religion, but at the same time destitute, from want of experience, of the knowledge and skill of other civilized communities. They have a magistrate, two councillors, and a chaplain; and they are now under the authority of the governor of New South Wales. They are affectionate, simple, and unsuspecting; but are ignorant of the use of the plough, and of the most necessary trades.