1803.
December.
above; to which was added a hope of obtaining a passage in a ship where my defaced charts and journals, which remained untouched from the time of the shipwreck, might be put into a state to be laid before the Admiralty on arriving in England. In the case of meeting with such a passage, I intended to let the Cumberland for freight back to Port Jackson, or to sell her, agreeably to the authority given me in governor King's orders.
2. Considering the proximity of Mauritius to the western coasts of Terra Australis, which remained to be examined, I was desirous to see in what state it had been left by the revolution, and to gain a practical knowledge of the port and periodical winds; with a view to its being used in the future part of my voyage as a place of refitting and refreshment, for which Port Jackson was at an inconvenient distance. It was also desirable to know how far Mauritius, and its dependencies in Madagascar which I knew to abound in cattle, could be useful to Port Jackson in supplying it with breeding stock; an object concerning which the governor had expressed anxiety for information from any place on the east side of the Cape of Good Hope.
3. The two letters from governor King to general Magallon, governor of Mauritius, instead of being forwarded from the Cape might be delivered in person.
4. I was a stranger to what had passed in Europe for nearly twelve months, and there was consequently a possibility that war might again have broken out; my passport from the French government would be good at Mauritius, but in going to the Cape, it was uncertain what attention the Dutch governor might pay to the orders of the first consul of France; and as promoters and encouragers of science, the character of the nation was not so high as to give me great expectation on that head. Mauritius was therefore much more certain than the Cape, since the necessary succour would be there obtained even in case of war; whereas at the Cape there might be a risk of losing my charts and journals and of being made a prisoner.
