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[Page 5]
service we have been here between 9 & 10 months & we are not as yet all Hutted you will hardly believe me when I say that we ourselves have been obligd for the want of Assistance to cut thatch & wattle for our Hutts & now that I have nearly compleated mine I must quit it & willingly obey orders I have livd in a marquee since I arrived here & am likely to continue it much longer we have labored incessantly since we arrivd here to raise all sorts of vegetables & Even at this distant period we can barely supply our Tables his Excely not excepted this together with the miserable state of the natives & Scarcity of animals are convincing proofs of the badness of the Country you will no doubt have a Flattering public account but you may rely upon what I have advanced every gentleman here 2 or 3 excepted concur with me in opinion & sincerely wish that the expedition may be recalled.
Port Jackson Novr 18 1788
N.B. It would not be prudent to rely wholly upon what this gentleman has advanced especialy in that part of his Letter that speaks of the Quantity of Flour in the Colony the Public return of Provision dated Novr 16 1788 is as Follows
Beef & Pork months - 20
Flour & rice - 18
Butter - 13
Pease - 16
Mr White Surgeon