LA FJ&aOUSE. 269 and of wHcii a rough survey, made by Captain Hunter and the 1788 officers of the Sirius after the ships came round, may give your 15 May, lordshq) some idea. The different coves were examined with all possible expecStion. I fixed on the one that had the best spring of water, and in which the ships can anchor so close to the shore that» at a very small Sydney expense, quays may be made at which the largest ships may unload. This cove, which I honored with the name of Sydney, is about a quarter of a mile across at the entrance, and half a mile in lengtix. We returned to Botany Bay the third day, when I received a B«tum to very unfavourable account of the ground that was clearing. The UtoktoPort ships immediately prepared to go round, and the 25th, seven days 2rjaiiuary. after I arrived in the Supply, I sailed in her for Port Jackson, leaving Captain Hunter to follow with the transports, it then blow- ing too strong for them to work out of the bay. They joined me the next evening, and all the transports were moored in the cove. The arrival of the French ships nnder La Perouse is referred to by Phillip in a paragraph in which he gives the result of Lieutenant King's interview with the French commander. There is no mention of any personal com- munication between the representatives of the two nations, or of any visit paid- by La Perouse to Phillip ; but hospitali- ties were frequently exchanged between the French and English officers, and great cordiality seems to have been shown on both sides. Two sail had appeared off Botany Bay the 24th under French La p^nnwe colours, and anchored there before the Sirius left — the Boussole Boy. ^ and the Astrolabe."^ These ships were commanded by Mens, de la Perouse, who, having expressed a desire of sending letters to Europe, I sent an officer over, it being only eight miles, to tell him in what time it was probable the ships might sail. Captain Clonard had left the ships in one of their boats the same momii^g, and Lieu- tenant Shortland, the agent for the transports, is cheurged with the letters he brought ; they are addressed to the French ambassadors. The officer I sent over was informed that Mons. de la P^ouse sailed His tnck. from France in June, 1785, that he had been to Santa Catherina, • Phillip^s Voyage, p. 53 ; Collina, p. 4; Hunter, p. 43; White, p. 119; Tenofa, p. 40. Digitized byCjOOQlC
