WHITE'S JOURNAL OF A 
lency Mynheer Van Graaf, the Dutch governor, by whom wc 
were received with extreme civility and politenefs. A few 
hours after we had taken leave, he called on the commodore 
at his lodgings, to return his viHt ; and the next day re- 
turned the vifit of fuch officers, refiding on fhore, as had 
paid their refpeds to him. 
Notwithftanding this ftudied politenefs, feveral days 
elapfed before the commodore could obtain a categorical an- 
fvver to the requifition he had made for the fupplics he flood 
in need of for the expedition : and had it not been for the 
judicious perfeverance Commodore Phillip obferved, in urg- 
ing his particular fituation, and the uncommon exigency of 
the fervice he was engaged in ; it was believed the governor, 
fifcal, and council, would have fheltered their refufal under 
the pretence that a great fcarcity had prevailed in the Cape 
colony the preceding feafon, particularly of wheat and corn, 
which were the articles we flood moft in want of. This 
idea they wifhed to imprefs us with ; but, as juft obferved, 
the commodore's fagacity and induflrious zeal for the fervice 
fubdued and got over the fupinenefs fhown by the governor, 
&c. and procured permiilion for the contrador to fupply us 
with as much Hock, corn, and other neceffaries, as we could 
flow. 
