13. Direct reference to minor objects, and to matters of detail, is
purposely omitted, in full reliance on your judgment and discretion, and
on your personal desire to render the expedition as productive as
possible of benefit to the colony and to science in general.

14. In this spirit I may add that the brief instructions herein given for
your general guidance are by no means intended to fetter your own
judgment in carrying out the main object of the expedition in such other
and different manner as may appear to you likely to lead to beneficial
results. In the belief that such results will be achieved by the energy
and perseverance of yourself and of those who have so nobly volunteered
to join you in the enterprise, and with confident wishes for your
success, in which H.E. largely participates,

I remain, Sir,

Your obedient Servant,

J.S. ROE, Surveyor-General.

John Forrest, Esquire, Leader of Exploring Expedition to the North-East.

Mr. George Monger (brother of the gentleman who gave the information),
who accompanied me as second in command, had previously been on an
expedition to the eastward, and Jemmy Mungaro was the black who said he
had seen the spot where the remains of the white men were. His
persistence in the statement encouraged me to hope that I might be the
first to announce positively the fate of the lost explorer; but I had
then to learn how little dependence can be placed on the testimony of
Australian aborigines.