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[Page 5]
It will be found as I observed before my departure from London that their will be a necessity either to augment the New South Wales Corps or raise another Battalion for this Service, in which case I shall rely on your good offices in recommending me as a proper person for the Command. You are well acquainted with my claims & I am certain any thing you say on the subject would be attended with success should any such measure ever be adopted.
Mr. Bass had left this Country before my arrival but I understand he has written to you an account of his discoveries on the Coast. Lt. Flinders whose Charts you will have seen before this, is about to leave this in the Reliance; should the Lady Nelson arrive his loss will be great having such a Zeal for Discovery & I should suppose tolerably correct. I have taken the liberty of giving him & also Capt. Townson a line of Introduction to you.
There are two Vessels here from Bengal one of them commissioned by the Officers Civil & Military, and the other called the Hunter, at their own risk, by her there are some plants and seeds directed for Governor King from Doctor Roxburgh, as he is not here I have taken charge of them. There are several from China which I have no doubt will thrive very well in this Country particularly the Leechee [Lychee] and China Peach and will of course be an acquisition. I am sorry to observe that the cultivation of the Vine has been totally neglected since I left the Country there are not so many now as there was in the year 1796, other fruit trees are however