THE FLEET AT SEA. 71 days longer, and. which permission was afterwards continued till 1787 the'23rd, when I received an answer from the Council, who had October, taken that time to deliberate on my letter of the 15th, granting permission to receive bread daily for the use of the ships while we remained in this port, and the same evening I received a letter from the Governor granting all my demands. Our passage from Rio de Janeiro was very favourable. The Good number of sick on our arrival here was twenty marines and ninety- ^ three convicts. The Sirius and Supply had only eight sick on board, and as all the ships were very amply supplied with soft bread, vegetables, and fresh meat, I did not think it necessary to land any of the sick. Their lordships will see by the returns that there are very few sick at present. We are now ready for sea. What live cattle the ships can stow Ready are now getting on board, with such grain and seeds as was wanted, and I shall sail immediately. The remaining so long before I could obtain leave to procure the necessaries we wanted has detained me longer in this port than I wished, but it will, I hope, be the means of keeping the people in health for the i^est of the passage. While at the Cape, Phillip availed himself of every ^'*"*' opportunity for the purpose of procuring the plants and seed required for his fanning operations. As it was earnestly wished to introduce the fruits of the Cape into the new settlement. Captain Phillip was ably assisted in his endeav- ours to procure the rarest and the best of every species, both in plant and seed, by the King^s botanist."* The col- lection made, both at the Cape and at Rio, included almost every kind of useful plant considered likely to thrive in the new country. With most of them Phillip's expectations were fully realised from the first; but it took time and experience to leam that the coffee, cocoa, cotton, and banana Tropicia plants, collected at Rio, required a rather more tropical climate than that of Botany Bay. Nor were the ipecacu- anha and jalap plants, laid in at Rio, destined to take any place in the list of exports from the colony; but the orange, lime, and lemon trees obtained there made ample ♦ CoUina, p. xxvii. Digitized by Google
