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 made public, the day of their departure was fixed.  The whole were to embark on board the Sirius and the Supply in the beginning of the following month, and were, if no ship arrived from England to prevent them, to sail on the 5th.  Should, unfortunately, the necessity of adopting the measure then exist, the Sirius was to proceed to China directly from Norfolk Island to procure a supply of provisions for the colony.  China was chosen, under an idea that salt provisions were to be obtained there, and that it was preferable to sending to any of the islands in those seas, or to the Cape of Good Hope at this season of the year, when the Sirius and her crew would have had to encounter the cold and boisterous weather of a winter’s passage thither.

As the numbers on Norfolk Island would be considerably increased by the arrival of this detachment from hence, the governor judged the presence of Major Ross necessary there, as lieutenant-governor of the territory.  Lieutenant King was to be recalled and return to this settlement.