u PtULLir F0UOT>8 SYDNEY. extent and security very superior to any that I lia%'e ever seen/* On the '24th he returned to Botany Bay, iioticiiig^ at sea two French ships, which he rightly coiichided t(y^M he the discovery shipB Astrolabe and Boumole, under La^^ Peroiise. On the *25th he Bailed in the Suppbf to Port Jackaon, ordering the remainder of the ships to follow on the 26th. On the 26th also La I'eroufle anchored with the AHtvolnhi' and Boumole in Botany Bay, heing offered assistance and information hy the Engliah/'^'^ On the same day Phillip displayed his colours on shore, assembled his officers *' round the flagstaff, drank the king's health and success to the settlement, Avitb all that display of form which on such occasions is deemed propitious/' and founded the town of Hydney. Time and labour were required to effect the landing of the convicts, and the Governor w^as personally active in planning and in directing ^^ his subordinates. ^| On tlie 7th Feb., 178B, with due solemnity, he gathered ^ his subjects on a space previously cleared. The military were drawn up under arms ; the convicts were stationed apart. The Governor's officers surrounded him. The royal commission was read by the Judge-Advocate. The brief, but comprehensive, Act of Parliament already quoted was read aloud, w^ith the letters patent euipow^ering the proper persons to hold the courts sanctioned by the Act.
- A triple discharge of musketry concluded this part of the
ceremony, after which Governor Phillip advanced and thanlied the private soldiers for their steady good conduct on every occasion," and then turned to his new subjects — the prisoners. He bade them recollect that akeady most -" Lieuteiuiiit P. ti. King was sent (I si Feb.) by Phillip to Botany Buy] to intcrchiiDge courtesies with La Pemitse, wiio hitd ulready visiited mauy islaiids of the Pacific, Norfolk l»lainU 'uhI New Zealaiiti He said to ' King, "Eutin Monsieur Cook ii tant fait, ix ne m'a rieii laisflt^ a f aire, que d'Luluiirer sea a-uvres." The captain of the AUrohibf^ L>e Liingle, httd been killed with thirteen others^ of whom eight wme oftitiers, at the Navigator liiliinils. Kiiglmh convicts had iiskeci La Perouse to carry them I away (before Kin*^ conversed with hiinK but he ditiuiiased them with threats, antl gave them a day's provteiou8 to return with. La Perouse mailed from Botany Bay on the lOtli March. Before he left there was a *' quarrel with the natives. Fircanna were used. **This," the official record says, *' joined to the ill behaviour of some of the couvicts, h&s produced a sbyuuss on tlieir parts which it has not yet been pofiaihle to remove.**
