detachment in this work.

The great labour in clearing the ground will not permit more than eight
acres to be sown this year with wheat and barley. At the same time the
immense number of ants and field mice will render our crops very
uncertain.

Part of the live stock brought from the Cape, small as it was, has been
lost, and our resource in fish is also uncertain. Some days great
quantities are caught, but never sufficient to save any part of the
provisions; and at times fish are scarce.

Your Lordship will, I presume, see the necessity of a regular supply of
provisions for four or five years, and of clothing, shoes and frocks in
the greatest proportion. The necessary implements for husbandry and for
clearing the ground brought out will, with difficulty, be made to serve
the time that is necessary for sending out a fresh supply.

The labour of the convicts shall be as is directed, for the public
stock, but it is necessary to permit a part of the convicts to work for
the officers, who, in our present situation, would otherwise find it
impossible to clear a sufficient quantity of ground to raise what is
absolutely necessary to support the little stock they have; and I am to
request that your Lordship will be pleased to direct me to what extent
that indulgence may be granted the officers of the garrison.

The _Sirius_ shall be sent to the northward to barter for stock, and
which shall be employed solely for the purposes of increasing the breed
of such cattle as she may procure. The _Supply_ is in no ways calculated
for this service, as in the least sea her decks are full of water.

The beginning of May the rainy season was once more supposed to be set
in, but after a week we had fine weather.

The three transports for China sailed the 5th, 6th, and 8th of May; and
the _Supply_ having been caulked sailed the 6th to Lord Howe Island, to
endeavour to procure turtle, in hopes of checking the scurvy with which
most of the people are affected, and near two hundred rendered incapable
of doing any work. It is not possible to send the _Sirius_ to the
northward, for she must then have her carpenters, and only three of
those hired from the transports now remain; and tho' the detachment
began to build barracks for the use of the men and huts for the officers
the 14th of February, and near a hundred convicts were given to assist
in this work, they are not yet finished, nor is the hospital or the
storehouse that is to receive