pence was put an end to,
by word being brought up to the settlement, that the _Supply_, unable to
get into Port Jackson, had borne up for Botany Bay, in which harbour she
anchored in the dusk of the evening. The next morning the letters which
she had brought were received. Lieutenant King wrote, that his people
continued healthy, and his settlement went on well. His wheat had
returned twenty fold, notwithstanding he had had much dry weather. He had
relinquished his intention of throwing up a redoubt on Mount George; but,
instead of that work, had employed his people in constructing a stockade
of piles round his house, inclosing an oblong square of one hundred feet
by one hundred and forty, within which he purposed erecting storehouses,
and a barrack for the military. He stated, that the convicts under his
orders had in general very good gardens, and that many of them would have
a very large produce of Indian corn.

The _Supply_ having in her way to Norfolk Island touched at Lord Howe
Island, Lieutenant Ball left the gunner and a small party to turn turtle,
but they met with no success; so that no dependance was to be placed on
that island for any material relief. The gunner examined the island, and
found fresh water in cavities, but not in any current.

The _Supply_ could not get round from Botany Bay until the 12th, when she
came to anchor in the cove, whence she had been absent just five weeks.

Lieutenant King having constantly written in high terms of the richness
of the soil of Norfolk Island, the governor, on comparing the situation
of the convicts there and in this settlement, where their gardens had not
that fertility to boast of, and where the ration from the store was with
too many hastily devoured, and with most derived but an uncertain and
scanty aid from any other source, determined, and about the middle of the
month announced his determination, to detach thither a large body of
convicts, male and female, together with two companies of the marines.
Some immediate advantages were expected to be derived from this measure;
the garden ground that would be left by those who embarked would be
possessed by those who remained, while the former would instantly on
their arrival at Norfolk Island participate in the produce of luxuriant
gardens, in a more constant supply of fish, and in the assistance that
was occasionally obtained from the birds which settled on Mount Pitt.

At the same time that this intention was