ur numbers.

You will then turn to the westward, and pursue this part of the survey,
so as to determine the breadth of the foul ground off the coast of New
Guinea, and the continuity or interrupted form of that coast; and you
will establish certain positions on the mainland (if the adjacent sea be
navigable, and if not on the several advancing islands) which may serve
as useful land-falls for vessels coming from the Indian Seas, or for
points of departure for those who have passed through any of these
straits. You will thus continue a general examination of this hitherto
unexplored coast as far as Cape Valsche, which is now said to be only the
terminating point of a chain of large islands, and then across to the
Arrou Islands, which are supposed to be remarkably fertile, to abound
with resources and refreshments, and to be peopled by a harmless and
industrious race, but which do not appear to have been visited by any of
His Majesty's ships.

The length of time which may be required for the due execution of all the
foregoing objects cannot be foreseen. It may exceed that for which your
supplies are calculated, or, on the other hand, a less degree of the
supposed complexity in the ground you will have traversed, along with the
energy and diligence with which we rely on you for conducting these
important services, may enable you to complete them within that period.
In this latter case you will return to the Northern coast of New Holland,
and selecting such parts of it as may afford useful harbours of retreat,
or which may appear to comprise the mouths of any streams of magnitude,
you will employ your spare time in such discoveries as may more or less
tend to the general object of the expedition.

Before your departure from Sydney you will have learnt that His Majesty's
Government has established a new settlement at Port Essington, or
somewhere on the North coast of New Holland; and before you finally
abandon that district you will visit this new colony, and contribute by
every means in your power to its resources and its stability.

We have not, in the concluding part of these Orders, pointed out the
places or the periods at which you are to replenish your provisions,
because the latter must depend on various circumstances which cannot be
foreseen, and the former may be safely left to your own decision and
prudence; but when you have been three years on your ground, unless some
very important result were to promise itse