1802.
July.
the limits therein pointed out; but found his portion to be smaller than he had supposed, not haying before been aware of the extent of the discoveries previously made by captain Grant. After examining the chart, he said, apparently as a reason for not producing any of his own, that his charts were not constructed on board the ship; but that he transmitted to Paris all his bearings and observations, with a regular series of views of the land, and from them the charts were to be made at a future time. This mode appeared to me extraordinary, and not to be worthy of imitation; conceiving that a rough chart, at least, should be made whilst the land is in sight, when any error in bearing or observation can be corrected; a plan which was adopted in the commencement, and followed throughout the course of my voyage.
Amongst our employments was that of fitting up a green house on the quarter deck, and sawing plank to make boxes for the reception of such plants as might be found by the naturalist, and thought worthy of being transported to His Majesty's botanic garden at Kew. This green house had been received at Sheerness, and stowed away in pieces; but I saw that when filled with boxes of earth, the upper works of the ship, naturally very weak, would be incapable of supporting the weight; and that in bad weather, we should be obliged to throw it over board for the safety of the ship, I therefore proposed its reduction to two-thirds of the size; and Mr. Brown being of opinion it would then contain all the plants likely to be collected in any one absence from Port Jackson, it was reduced accordingly; and the feet lowered down close to the deck. This arrangement required an alteration in the tiller, and a short one, with two arms, was fitted to the after part of the rudder head; with which expedient, and leading the main braces forward, the green house was not likely to cause much inconvenience to the working of the ship. The plants already collected on the South Coast had been landed on our arrival, in good order; and deposited