( 20 )
take the liberty of pointing out to your Lordship in this place; to shew as fully as possible, the state of this Colony, and the necessity of the Convicts being employed by those who an interest in their labour. The numbers employed in cultivation will be increased as the necessary buildings are finished, but which will be a work of time, for there are numbers in this Settlement who do nothing towards their own support, except those employed for the public.
In order to get a right knowledge of the country round the Settlement, frequent excursions have been made since the ships sailed in November 1788; soon after which, I went to Botany Bay, and the five days spent in this harbour, confirmed me in the opinion I had first formed of it, that it afforded no eligible situation for fixing the Settlement, and was a bad harbour, not affording good security for ships against the Easterly winds, which frequently blow very hard in the winter; and which has been further proved by Capt. Hunter, and the first Lieutenant of the Sirius, who went there to survey the Bay.
After having been several times with the boats to Broken Bay in order to examine the different branches in that Harbour, a river was found, but the want of provisions obliged us to return without being able to trace it to its source, which has since been done; and in the sixteen days we were then out, all those branches which had any depth of water, were traced as far as the boats could proceed. The brea(illegible text)of
