70 THE FLEET AT SEA. 1787 by the Commissary. To have hired a store and the island would October, have been more than the whole sum. The things have been granted as favours, but returns expected, and I made them first at my own expense, till I found I was £100 out of pocket, and then thought not^verjT^* that Government had not been so very liberal to me as to make it iberaL necessary to pay such a compliment. Seeds and ^^ ^ <^^ preserve the seeds and plants procured here, I shall be pianta. ^^^ indifferent about those articles at the Cape. Sir Joseph Banks wilKreceive from the master a small box that contains some plants he was very anxious to procure. Rams. The rams are in good health, and my breeding sows, as well as the ladies, seem well calculated for the end proposed. I intend making a very short stay at the Cape, as the ships are now in much better order than when they left England. The last letter written on the voyage out was addressed to Nepean from the Cape of Good Hope, undated. The fleet had anchored in Table Bay on the 13th October, and re- At the Oipe. mained there till the 12th of the following month. Mynheer Von GraafFe, the Dutch Governor of the Cape, did not pay such attentions to his visitors as the Viceroy of the Brazils had done ; but they were supplied with provisions for the fleet, as well as the plants and live stock required for the colony. You will please to inform the Kight Hon. the Lords Commis- sioners of the Admiralty that I sailed from Eio Janeiro the 4th of September and anchored here the 13th of October with the ships under my command . Having immediately on my arrival requested permission to procure refreshments and such provisions as were wanted for her Majesty's ship Sirius and Supply tender, I was informed that, the crops of com having failed the year before last, Difficulty the inhabitants had been reduced to the greatest distress, and that pUes^**"^ I could not be permitted to purchase any flour or bread. I, how- ever, obtained an order for three days' bread for a]l the ships ; and as I found on inquiry that the last year's crops had been very good, I requested, by letter to the Governor and Council, permis- sion to purchase what provisions were wanted for the Sirius and Supply, as likewise com for seed, and what was necessary for the live stock intended to be embarked at this place. The three days granted for the bread being expired, leave was given for three Digitized by Google
