INTRODUCTION. 
XXXV 
The same evening I waited upon his 
Excellency Governor Macquarie at Para- 
matta, and delivered to him his letters and 
the despatches which acquainted him with 
the particulars of my mission ; upon which 
His Excellency, after expressing himself 
anxious to give every assistance in his 
power in forwarding the service I had to 
perform, informed me that there were only 
two vessels belonging to the colony that 
could suit my purpose: one of one hundred 
tons that had been lately launched, and 
the other a brig of seventy tons, the Lady 
Nelson, that was built at Deptford in the 
year 1799, and sent out to the colony, 
expressly for the purpose of surveying 
the coast; she had, however, for the last 
ten years, been used as a coal-vessel, and 
was then hauled upon the slips, under- 
going a repair. Upon examining the two 
vessels, I found that the former, although 
of convenient burden, not only drew too 
