INSTRUCTIONS. 485 not only as a means of acquiring clothing for the convicts and other 178 persons who may become settlers, but from its superior excellence for a variety of maritime purposes, and as it may ultimatelybecome an article of export : It is therefore our will and pleasure that you do particularly attend to its cultivation, and that you do send home, by every opportunity which may offer, samples of this article, Samples to in order that a judgment may be formed whether it may not be h^^"* necessary to instruct you further upon this subject And whereas We are desirous that some further information Exploration should be obtained of the several ports or harbours upon the coast, °' **^® ^^^^^ and the islands contiguous thereto within the limits of your Go- vernment, you are, whenever the Sirius or the supply tender can conveniently be spared, to send one or both of them upon that service. Norfolk Island, situated in the latitude and longi- Norfolk tude east from Greenwich about , being represented J^^JJ^ as a spot which may hereafter become useful, you are, as soon as circumstances will admit of it, to send a small establishment thither to secure the same to us, and prevent it being occupied by the subjects of any other European Power. And you will cause any remarks or observations which you may obtain in consequence of this instruction to be transmitted to our Principal Secretary of State for Plantation Affairs for our information* And whereas it may happen, when the settlement shall be brought into some state of regulation, that the service of the Sirius may not be necessary at the said settlement and as we are desirous to diminish as much as possible the expenses which the intended establishment occasions, you will, whenever the services of the said ship can be dispensed with, order Captain Hunter to return with strius to her to England : And as from such an arrangement the emoluments ^"i™ JP of your station will be diminished, it is our royal intention that the same shall be made good to you by bills to be drawn by you upon the Commissioners of our Treasury. You are to endeavour, by every possible means, to open an inter- course with the natives, and to conciliate their affections, enjoining all our subjects to live in amity and kindness with them. And if The natives any of our subjects shall wantonly destroy them, or give them any tecte»f '*^ unnecessary interruption in the exercise of their several occupa- tions, it is our will and pleasure that you do cause such offenders to be brought to punishment according to the degree of the offence. You will endeavour to procure an account of the numbers inhabit- ing the neighbourhood of the intended settlement, and report your and reported opinion to one of our Secretaries of State in what manner our °"* intercourse with these people may be turned to the advantage of this colony. And it is further our royal will and pleasure that you do by all Reiijfion. proper methods enforce a due observance of religion and good Digitized by Google
