oats, and 1 ewe, my property; and
some stock belonging to individuals.

Before I take my final leave of this island, (where I remained
two years) I cannot help acknowledging the great assistance I
have received from the few officers I had with me; nor was this
propriety of conduct confined to the officers alone, as all the
marines and other free people were steady and regular in their
behaviour; and it gives me a sensible satisfaction to remark,
that, excepting on one or two occasions, I never had any reason
to be dissatisfied with any of the few free persons I had under
my command.

Exclusive of this general approbation of the good conduct of
the free people, I must particularise Mr. Cresswell, the officer
of marines; Mr. Stephen Dunavan, midshipman; and Mr. Thomas
Jamieson, surgeon's mate, of the Sirius, I feel the greatest
satisfaction in saying that a constant, uniform propriety of
conduct, and a readiness in forwarding the service, were ever
zealously shown by these gentlemen.

At noon on the 24th, the Supply made sail, and we arrived at
Port Jackson on the 4th of April.

When I left Port Jackson in February, 1788, the ground about
Sydney-Cove was covered with a thick forest, but on my arrival at
this time, I found it cleared to a considerable distance, and
some good buildings were erected. The governor, the
lieutenant-governor, the judge-advocate, and the greatest part of
the civil and military officers were comfortably lodged. The
governor's house is built of stone, and has a very good
appearance, being seventy feet in front. The
lieutenant-governor's house is built of brick, as are also those
belonging to the judge and the commissary: the rest of the houses
are built with logs and plaistered; and all the roofs are either
covered with shingles or thatched. The hospital is a good
temporary building: the soldiers were in barracks, and the
officers had comfortable huts, with gardens adjoining to them;
but unfortunately, these gardens afford but little, as there is
not more than two feet of soil over a bed of rocks, and this soil
is little better than black sand; and to this inconvenience must
be added, the depredations of rats and thieves.

At the distance of an hour's walk from Sydney-Cove, the soil
is better in some places, and these are occupied by the officers
and others, as their farms: there are also brick-kilns and a
pottery, both which articles they make very well, but a great
inconvenience arises