d its situation ascertained to be
in the track of ships bound from hence to the northward; for if Sir
Charles Middleton Island should hereafter be found to possess a safe and
convenient harbour, it might prove an interesting discovery for this
colony.

A Dutch ship, bound for Europe, sailing from the Cape of Good Hope on the
9th of last January, Captain Hunter took that opportunity of forwarding
the dispatches with which he had been charged by Governor Phillip. He was
informed by the master of the _Harpy Whaler_, who had put into Table Bay,
that in England there had been a general anxiety to hear of our safety
and arrival in this country, and that ships to be taken up had been
advertised for, but had not been engaged, as the government waited for
accounts from Governor Phillip.

Of these accounts it was hoped that ministers had been some time in
possession, and that in consequence supplies were at this hour on their
passage to New South Wales.

Our attention was now directed to receiving from the _Sirius_ the
provisions she had brought us; and as the flour had been packed in bags
at the Cape of Good Hope, the coopers were immediately employed in
setting up and preparing casks for its reception on shore. These being
soon completed, the flour was landed and deposited in the store. This,
with the building and covering-in of a new hut for the smith's work,
formed the principal labour of the convicts at Sydney during this month.

The boats in the colony not being found sufficient for the purpose of
transporting provisions from the store at Sydney to the settlement at
Rose Hill, a launch or hoy was put upon the stocks, under the direction
of Mr. Reid, the carpenter of the _Supply_, to be employed for that and
other necessary purposes. She was to be built of the timber of the
country, and to carry ten tons.

From that settlement, early in the month, two soldiers of the detachment
doing duty there were reported to be missing; and, though parties had
been sent out daily in different directions to seek for them, yet all was
unavailing. It was supposed that they must have lost their way in some of
the thick and almost impenetrable brushes which were in the vicinity of
Rose Hill, and had there perished miserably. They had gone in search of
the sweet tea plant already mentioned; and perhaps when they resigned
themselves to the fate which they did not see how to avoid, oppressed
with hunger, and unable to wander any farther, the