the north-west monsoon would not set in before the
beginning of November; I therefore intended to examine such parts of the
east coast of New South Wales in my way to the northward, as had been
passed by Captain Cook in the night, and were not seen in my expedition
with the Norfolk sloop in 1799. The openings of Keppel and Shoal-water
Bays, and the still larger of Broad Sound, I was also anxious to explore;
in the hope of finding a river falling into some one of them, capable of
admitting the Lady Nelson into the interior of the country. These
desirable objects I expected to accomplish before the approach of the
monsoon would call me into the Gulf of Carpentaria.

The French ships were in no forwardness for sailing; and it was
understood that Captain Baudin intended sending back Le Naturaliste to
France, by the way of Bass' Strait, so soon as the season should be
favourable. He had purchased a small vessel of between thirty and forty
tons at Sydney, to serve him as a tender; and he told me that we should
probably meet in the Gulf of Carpentaria in December or January. I
understood that he meant to return to the south coast, and after
completing its examination, to proceed northward, and enter the Gulf with
the north-west monsoon; but it appeared to me very probable, that the
western winds on the south coast would detain him too long to admit of
reaching the Gulf of Carpentaria at the time specified, or at any time
before the south-east monsoon would set in against him.

Before leaving Sydney Cove, I placed in the hands of governor King two
copies of my chart of the south coast of Terra Australis, in six sheets;
with three other sheets of particular parts, on a large scale. One copy I
requested him to send with my letters to the secretary of the Admiralty,
by the first good opportunity that offered; the other was to remain in
his hands until my return, or until he should hear of the loss of the
Investigator, when it was also to be sent to the Admiralty.

During our stay of twelve weeks at Port Jackson, there were not many days
favourable to our pursuits at the observatory, the weather being dull and
rainy for the greater part of the time; by watching all opportunities
however, a sufficient number of observations were obtained to show the
rates of the time keepers, and to answer the purposes of geography and
navigation.

The _Latitude_ of Cattle Point, from thirty meridian altitudes in an
artificial horizon, of which f