We returned to Botany Bay the third day, where I received a very
unfavourable account of the ground that was clearing.
The ships immediately prepared to go round, and the 25th--seven days
after I arrived in the _Supply_--I sailed in her for Port Jackson,
leaving Captain Hunter to follow with the transports, it then blowing
too strong for them to work out of the bay. They joined me the next
evening, and all the transports were moored in the cove.
Two sail had appeared off Botany Bay the 24th, under French colours, and
anchored there before the _Sirius_ left it--the _Boussole_ and the
_Astrolabe_. These ships were commanded by Monsieur La Perouse, who
having expressed a desire of sending letters to Europe, I sent an
officer over, it being only eight miles, to tell him in what time it was
probable the ships might sail.
The clearing the ground for the people and for erecting storehouses was
begun as soon as the ships got round, a labour of which it will be
hardly possible to give your Lordship a just idea.
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