On the fifth day after their arrival, two strange ships were seen standing into the bay, which proved to be the La Boussole and L’Astrolabe under the command of Monsieur De la Peyrouse, and which have been long wishfully looked for by all the good and wise of Europe.

Chapter XI

A VOYAGE TO NORFOLK ISLAND

February 1788 to April 1788

Lieutenant King visits Monsieur De la Peyrouse at Botany-Bay.—­Polite reception there.—­An account of his adventures.—­Lieutenant King returns to Port Jackson.—­Sent by Governor Phillip to form a settlement on Norfolk Island.—­Leaves Port Jackson.—­An island discovered.—­Arrival at Norfolk Island.—­Difficulty in finding a landing-place.—­Lands the convicts, provisions, and stores.—­Ground cleared, and tents fixed.—­A store-bouse erected.—­Vegetables, and various sorts of grain sown.—­ Distressed by rats.—­General orders for the regulation of the settlement.

On the 1st of February, at day-light in the morning, Lieutenant Dawes, of the marines, and myself, left Sydney Cove in a cutter, in order to proceed to Botany-Bay, and visit Monsieur De la Peyrouse, on the part of Governor Phillip, and to offer him any assistance he might stand in need of.  We soon got down to the harbour’s mouth, and finding a light breeze from the southward, we were obliged to row all the way:  we arrived on board the Boussole at ten o’clock in the morning, and were received with the greatest attention and politeness by Monsieur Peyrouse, and the few officers he had.

After delivering my message to him, he returned his thanks to Governor Phillip, and made us similar offers to those he had received, adding at the same time, that he should be in France within the space of fifteen months, and as he had stores, etc. sufficient to serve him for three years, he should be happy to send Governor Phillip any thing that he might want.  Monsieur Peyrouse informed me, that a number of the convicts had been to him, and wanted to enter on board his ships, but that he had dismissed them with threats, and had given them a day’s provisions to carry them back to the settlement.

The wind coming on to blow fresh from the northward, I accepted Monsieur Peyrouse’s invitation to pass the day with him, and to return to Port Jackson the next morning.

In the course of our conversation, I learned that he had touched at, and been off, the following places, viz.  Madeira, Teneriffe, and Santa Catherina:  he had run down the coasts of Chili and California, on the last of which he had lost boats, officers, and men, by the surf.  He had been at Kamschatka, where he replaced the wooden inscription that had been erected to the memory of Captain Clerke, (which was nearly defaced) with a copper one:  for this attention I thanked him.  From Kamschatka, he went to Macao; from thence to the Phillippines, the Sandwich Islands, Isles des Navigateurs, Friendly Islands, and Norfolk Island, from whence he came to Botany-Bay.