1840 - Johnson, J. Pitts. Plain Truths, Told by a Traveller [New Zealand sections] - Swan River, p 7-34

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SWAN RIVER.

The anchorage in Gage's Roads is very insecure, being open to every breeze, and those from the northward and eastward blow very strong. The land breeze sets in every morning, and what is termed the sea-breeze (half a gale of wind) in the afternoon. The appearance of Fremantle, the seaport of Western Australia, is most disheartening to any person, especially those who go there with the prospect of settling for life. A dark heavy sand, which in many places the wind has blown into heaps, is the only soil, except in the centre of this would-be town, where there is a very large pond, or rather swamp, which during the summer season forms excellent garden ground: --during the winter every description of vegetables flourish with the greatest luxuriance in this dirty sand. Fleas seem to be generated in the sand, for though we were only on shore the first day about an hour, when we returned on board the vessel, we were literally swarming with them. The colony has been only established five years. On our arrival, several persons came alongside eager to learn the latest news from that country which they would, in the common course of events, never see again; decoyed

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out, either by Mr. Peel's bubble, or allured by Captain Stirling's boasted circular, that there were only two trees to the acre, whereas it is next to impossible to put a plough into any acre before first felling twelve or fourteen trees, and in addition, in the low lands, or to use a Colonial phrase, the flats, grubbing up an almost innumerable number of the shrubs of the wattle (mimosa). The harbour having a bar, prevents any vessel entering the Swan River. Could this difficulty be removed, it would but little improve the anchorage, unless the river was considerably deepened for the first four or five miles, when vessels would enter perhaps the most beautiful piece of water that eyes could behold, Melville Water. On the whole, the town of Fremantle, which was but little improved during my residence of two years and a quarter in the colony, is only comparable, in my opinion, to Goldsmith's description of the Deserted Village, except in regard to the public houses, whither every person seemed to resort. Business! there was none; and, instead of pleasure, every person seemed to have the cares of a great commercial nation pending over his head.

The road to the capital, Perth, is the same dead heavy sand that marks the seaport. Three miles on the road you cross the ferry of the Swan, and the remaining eight miles of your ride to the metropolis is still pursued through a similar soil.

The boasted accounts given by the inhabitants of Fremantle of the beauty of Perth, led me to believe that in this would-be Paradise I should, at any rate, have some firm ground to walk over; but no---toujours le meme. The residence of his Excellency, who was at this time in England, was certainly any thing but elegant, useful, or ornamental. It was simply one of Manning's weather-boarded houses with a canvass roof, not impervious to rain, there being

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a great many places through which daylight could very clearly be seen. They have built small barracks, capable of containing from three to four hundred men. A most excellent government store has also been erected, a very strong and substantial building. The only church in the colony is here; it is also used as the civil court. It is a rush building, about eighty feet long and twenty feet wide, in which divine service is performed every Sunday by the colonial chaplain, the Rev. Mr. Wittenoom. The criminal court is held at the jail at Fremantle. Both Perth and Fremantle are tolerably well supplied with water, but firewood in both places is scarce, and consequently expensive. In Fremantle they generally burn a curious shrub, called the black-bog, which emits any thing but a pleasant savour. Every necessary is to be procured in Fremantle and Perth. Fresh meat in 1834, was as high as 1s. 6d. per lb. Her Majesty's ship Rattlesnake was supplied at 2s. 6d. per lb., the highest price government allows for fresh meat to her soldiers and seamen. Butter 1s. 6d. to 3s. Fowls 5s. to 6s. per couple. Kangaroo, which is most excellent eating, 10d. per lb. Salt beef 6d. Salt pork 8d. and 9d. per lb. In September 1834, there was no flour to be procured for love or money. Four pounds ten shillings sterling was offered in my presence for four 4 lb. loaves, but was refused. There are some very good houses in Perth; Dr. Collie's, Mr. Leake's, D. A. C. G. Drake's, and Mr. Helms's are amongst the best: they are built of brick, as indeed all the houses are in Perth, except the present government residence, which is a stone building, for the beauty of which I cannot speak in very high terms. On the whole the town of Perth is considerably preferable to that of Fremantle.

About ten miles beyond Perth is another township called Guildford, also on the Swan River. On arriving at this

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height up the Swan, you meet with fine firm soil, generally black and red loams; this is by far the prettiest place in the colony, and, moreover, the land being so good, would, I should think, be a great inducement to the gentleman who has now succeeded Sir James Stirling, to make Guildford the capital. The land in Guildford is mostly in the occupation of small farmers, as the allotments are three acres and three quarters each, which enables them to grow sufficient garden stuff and wheat for their own consumption, and by going out the greater portion of the year to work for the large farmers in the neighbourhood, enables them, as the land is freehold, to maintain their families in comfort and respectability. The farms in the immediate neighbourhood of Guildford (I allude to the large ones,) seem to exhibit that carelessness which is any thing but the proof of an improving estate, with the exception of one, the property of a gentleman on the Helena River, which runs into the Swan. The land about Guildford is not at all calculated for the feeding of sheep, inasmuch as sheep prefer a short, sweet, wiry grass, on which they improve very much, whereas the pasturage in the vicinity, and indeed every where on the western side of Darling Range, is more calculated from its description to afford nutriment to cattle and horses than to sheep. Many places, even on the Swan and Canning Rivers, are not calculated even for cattle, as the loss of Mr. Phillips' stock on the Canning will fully demonstrate. This gentleman, from a fine herd of about thirty head of cattle, lost nearly twenty within six months. The reason assigned was, that the cattle being left to roam by themselves in search of food during the winter days, naturally quitted the banks of the rivers which were flooded, and fed on the young upland grass, which is very watery, and consequently of no sustenance, and moreover, the plains being in many places, under water, the animals caught violent colds, which caused

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them to lose the use of their limbs, while their watery food prevented their bearing up under the malady, under which the whole of them gradually sunk in the course of a very short period. Sheep-feeding on the western side of the Darling Range has proved a complete failure.

The distressing accounts which have been transmitted to England, of the deplorably helpless condition of many of the settlers of this colony, I am truly sorry to be obliged to confirm; but at the same time, think it my duty to the colony, to inform my readers, that it was not solely from the unfruitful nature of the land allotted to these several persons, but, generally speaking, from their improvident commencement, --by remaining in Fremantle, exhausting their capital in rioting and drunkenness, instead of at once proceeding to their locations; or, on arrival at their places of abode, instead of contenting themselves with remaining in their tents or rush huts until they had sown some wheat to provide for the coming year, devoting their time to the erection of a house until too late to sow their crops; or should their land, by good luck to them, be apportioned to them over the Darling Range of mountains, have made some ridiculous purchase of one of the officers' grants of Her Majesty's ship Sulphur. So high a notion had his Honour Capt. Stirling (he being then only Lieutenant Governor) of the incalculable advantages that would accrue to the colony, by giving the best portions of land in the neighbourhood of the seaport to officers in the navy, that I believe there was scarcely a midshipman, or even a volunteer of the first class of Her Majesty's ship Success, as well as the preceding vessel, who had not a grant of some sort in the colony. The Success was commanded by Captain Stirling, when he happened, more by good luck than good management, to pitch upon the Swan River.

Proceeding higher up the Swan River there are on both sides some excellent farms: those belonging to Messrs.

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Yule, Brockman, Lennard, Burgess, Bull, and Tanner, Captains Shaw and Burn are all in a high state of cultivation, and have more the appearance of English farms; those of Mr. J. R. Phillips, Mr. Davis, and Major Nairne on the Canning are the same.

The natives of Swan River are certainly the most miserable in appearance that any person can possibly imagine; they are generally about five feet seven inches high, very meagre and emaciated in appearance, but possessing a great deal of strength and activity. They are very cunning, and invariably resent any injuries, always taking two white men's lives for one black man's. They are very great thieves, purloining whatever they can possibly lay their hands upon. They seldom wear anything on their persons except a kangaroo skin, appearing constantly in the towns and at the various farms in almost a state of nudity; they never wash themselves, and the only time their flesh undergoes any degree of purification, is when they are obliged to ford a river in their journeys through the bush. In catching the kangaroos, they set fire to the bush for a circumference Of about three miles, leaving two apertures by which the animals may escape: at these apertures they stand, and as the kangaroos, bandicoots, and opossums come out they are in readiness to spear them. Their spears are generally about seven feet long and an inch in circumference at the thickest part. They are mostly barbed, and have teeth of quartz, extending about six inches down two sides; they are thrown from a board or wambara, a piece of the gum tree, about eighteen inches long, and an eighth of an inch thick, and three inches in breadth. They will sometimes throw them as far as two hundred yards at a time, with the wind. The bodies of the natives are generally besmeared with grease, and then covered with a red earth that has been burnt in the fire. The females carry their children on their backs in bag

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made of kangaroo skin. They live principally on fish, kangaroo, roots, opossum, bandicoot, and various slugs that they get out of old trees. Their huts are formed in a half-circle of twigs stuck in the ground, and covered with the paper-tree bark; they are not above three feet and a half high, the fronts are open towards a fire, and the backs towards the wind; they are built in a style of architecture which does not a little contribute to keep envy from insinuating itself under their roofs. The mothers are so very careless of their offspring, that it is not an uncommon thing to see children without either toes or fingers, from their mothers having dropped them into the fire when asleep. When any of their tribe are so ill or so old that they cannot travel, they generally leave them in hollow trees to perish for want. They travel with wonderful expedition. Their breasts are generally cut when about sixteen years old, and kept open some time to enable the wound when healed to protrude a little from the remainder of the skin. Many persons admire some of the men when walking through the sun with their breasts cut and well greased--they certainly have a warlike appearance. They are excessively superstitious, believing that the Europeans who are there are the spirits of departed blacks who have been down to the bottom of the big water and come up white: they so fully believe this, that if a person has a mark near any place of his body where a deceased native has been speared, they call him by his name, and treat him with more distinction than any other white person. They are very fond of mutton, beef, and horse, whenever they can by any possibility spear them. Their method of catching fish is by going to the rivers in the dusk of the evening with a lighted brand, and as the fish come up to the water's edge they spear them; in which exercise they are uncommonly skilful. Cockatoos they procure by throwing a heavy

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piece of wood about a foot long amongst a quantity, and seldom fail to bring down one out of the number. They eat several descriptions of snake, and the guana, which they call very good eating. In their cooking they are not very particular, inasmuch, when it is only done on the outside, they take it up, gnaw it a little, and put it on the fire again. The men have generally two and three wives, and adultery is punished by them with death. In their eating, the males serve themselves first; they then throw it on the ground, when the female helps herself, and it is again committed to the dirt for the children. They are very expert in tracking, and will see footmarks where no European possibly can. They can tell one another by their footmark. A child belonging to Mr. Hall was lost in the bush three days, and a native having been put on its tracks from home, discovered it, although it had wandered above three miles. Towards the latter end of 1836, they had committed so many depredations and murders in the Murray district, that the Governor, Sir James Stirling, found it necessary to bring down the mounted police, a most efficient force, about half a dozen soldiers, determined to quell, if possible, amongst these savages, their propensities for thieving and murder. They found them a little after daylight in the morning, and after a smart skirmish destroyed thirty-four of them; but unfortunately with the loss of Captain Ellis, who commanded the corps, by a spear-wound which entered his temple, of which he died about ten days afterwards. One of the soldiers who accompanied the Governor having shot a woman expressly against the Governor's orders, (who gave directions that they should spare the women and children,) on being asked why he did it, his calm reply was: "Because, your excellency, they breed." This seemed not much to intimidate them, for shortly after they speared two of Mr. Peel's horses, part of which, when the carcases were found, it

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appears they had eaten. Early in the year 1833, there was a large quantity of potatoes on sale at Fremantle, and the above-mentioned Mr. J. R. Phillips having bought them for seed, intended taking them up the Canning on the following day. The evening of the day on which he purchased the potatoes, some natives endeavoured to enter Mr. Samson's stores where these potatoes were deposited; they effected an entrance, and were decamping with their booty when Mr. Samson's man fired, and killed one of the natives. On the following morning, little dreaming of the fearful result, the potatoes were put into a boat and conveyed to the mouth of the Canning in Melville Water, where Mr. Phillips' teams met them to convey them up to the farm, from which the mouth of the Canning is distant about ten miles; the carts being loaded, started on their return to the road, but had not proceeded above four miles on their way, when the first cart drawn by bullocks and in the charge of two brothers, named Velvicks, was attacked by the natives, and both the brothers speared. The other carters, who were about fifty yards behind with the other teams, stopped their carts on hearing the war-whoop of the natives, and proceeded to the spot where the other team waited; one man was lying dead, with at least twenty spears in his body, the other man had apparently crawled away, but was discovered shortly afterwards behind a tree dead. Mr. Phillips at this time came up, and taking his pistols from his holster attempted to shoot the chiefs Yagan and Medgegooroo, but unfortunately the caps were off his pistols, and not having any others with him, which these villains noticed, they laughed at him and quietly retired, telling him they had taken two white fellows' lives for one black gentleman's. In consequence of this outrage, the Government offered 50l. reward for Yagan's head--this man boasted of having speared nine Europeans. The reward offered by the Go-

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vernment tempted the cupidity of two boys, aged fourteen and fifteen, brothers, who were minding Mr. Bull's cattle at the head of Swan River; and on Yagan and Medgegooroo meeting as usual, the boys who had previously laid their plans, the youngest, who was walking by the side of Yagan, snapped his fowling piece, which was laying over his arm, but it unfortunately flashed in the pan. Yagan would have instantly despatched them, but through their knowledge of the language they calmed his suspicions. The second attempt proved effectual, and the much-dreaded chief lay lifeless at their feet. They then placed themselves back to back and shot one more of the natives. The elder brother then persuaded the younger one to run and swim the river, which after many entreaties he consented to do, but unfortunately in crossing the river, the water got into the barrels of his gun and wetted his powder; the elder brother swam the river after the younger one had arrived in safety on the opposite bank, and had also reached the other side, when a but too true spear hit him on the head, and he fell back a lifeless corpse. The younger hastened home as quickly as possible and told the news, but was obliged to quit the colony directly, having obtained the reward offered, as his life would certainly have been taken to revenge the deaths of their chief and comrade.

Such is an outline of the atrocities committed by these wretches on the lives of Europeans, from whom they are continually receiving food and blankets. It appears to me that they certainly have some religion of their own, as they will never move about after dusk by any chance without a piece of lighted brand in their hands. Mr. Bull mentioned to me one circumstance of which he was certain. He was travelling in the bush in search of land, and took a native with him, whom he sent one evening to fetch a bucket of water from the river, which was

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not above twenty yards distant. He dropped the bucket and firebrand, and came running back in a terrible fright, declaring that he had seen Junga or the devil. Their depredations have been so great that they have driven off thirty sheep and goats at a time, not only from Mr. Phillips, but also from Mr. Bull. The greatest punishment it appears you can inflict upon them, is to give them the cat-o'-nine tails, which not only makes them suffer, but shames them. Cattle, horses, and sheep, all appear particularly to dread them, and the dogs will not if possible allow them to come near the houses. About midway on the road to King George's Sound, whither I went with the governor, the natives appeared equally afraid of the horses and bullocks, which they called big dogs.

The land on the Canning River is certainly equal, if not superior to the land on the Swan. The only town-site on the Canning is nearly at the head, and called Kelmscot: there are, however, only a few soldiers living there. In the neighbourhood of this place there is most excellent cattle pasturage, sufficient even about the town-site itself to support at least one hundred head of cattle the year round on every fifteen hundred acres; a very great thing where there is nothing but the native grasses for the cattle to feed upon, which of course are not by any means so nutritious as the English grasses. Wheat yields about an average of twenty bushels to the acre where the ground is properly tilled, but many of the early settlers have continued sowing wheat upon wheat, thereby impoverishing their land so much that it will not yield ten bushels to the acre. This system will of course find its own level, and must in time alter. Shepherds earn as much as 2l. 10s. to 3l. per month with their board and lodging, and two glasses of rum per day. Farm labourers 30s. to 2l. and the same living, &c. as the shepherds. Ploughmen 2l. and 2l. 10s. Most of the work is here done by

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oxen, which are more economical to the farmer to keep, and considerably more serviceable on the dead, heavy, sandy roads, which it is necessary to travel before reaching the interior from the various towns: --a pair of good oxen is here worth 50l.

The country about the Murray River, is most excellent grazing land for cattle and horses, the grass in many places being as high as the horses' bellies. About twelve miles from the mouth of the Murray, and about sixteen from the town site of Kelmscot on the Canning, on the banks of a stream that empties itself into the Murray, are about a hundred head of wild cattle. It would appear that some few animals got adrift from the early settlers on landing in the colony, and have thus propagated in their wild state; they are certainly the most beautiful animals in the settlement. A party of about six persons went out to endeavour to bring some in, headed by a man who had a great deal of wild-cattle hunting in the sister colony of New South Wales, and after an absence of a week through the most beautiful country, they said, for pasturage they ever saw, returned with eight bulls and cows, one heifer, and two calves. They were certainly the most delicate meat I had ever tasted. One of the calves was knocked up in driving them in, and they were consequently obliged to cut its throat to save its carcase: and although it was cooked two hours after its death, it was very tender and delicately white. After the first excursion, government saw the benefit of making all the unbranded ones government property, and offered to any person who brought any in, one-third of the value of all unbranded cattle. Those that were branded, they were compelled to keep a year and a day, and if not claimed by their owners within that period, they were then killed and sold. One-third going to the person who brought them, the residue after deducting 2l. 10s. per head for their keep, to go to the

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crown, which was to be given up, should the lawful owner claim it. The party who first went out, essayed again, and brought in one cow. Two other parties went out, but did not succeed.

The land on the eastern side of the Darling range of mountains is particularly calculated for sheep-farming from the nature of its grasses which are short, sweet, and wiry. The sheep in the York district thrive remarkably well, --those belonging to Messrs. Bland and Trimmer, especially: they have some very fine flocks, amounting in 1835, to about one thousand ewes; and as sheep on an average double their number of ewes in two years and a half, they must have at present upwards of three thousand exclusive of their wethers, which are generally in greater proportion than their ewe lambs.

Wool, which is the staple commodity of the Australian farmer, is rapidly improving in the Australian colonies, both in fineness of texture and length of staple, as the climate seems so peculiarly adapted to the breeding and rearing of these valuable animals. It has been the interest of the sheep farmer of Swan River to look to the size of the carcase prior to the texture of his wool, on account of the high prices of animal food in the market; but now that meat is falling in price, he will of course turn his attention to the fineness of his fleece. Some of the wools sent from Sydney by the Messrs. M'Arthurs and Rileys, have realized as much as 4s. 6d. per lb. in the London market. So high an opinion, however, have the merchants of Perth and Fremantle, of their native wool, that they give as much as 1s. 10d. to 2s. per lb. for it on the spot for shipment to England. Prior, however, to its shipment, it has to be repacked and sorted; and from the time it is delivered into the merchant's hands by the farmer, to the time of its sale by auction in London or Liverpool, it costs on the average 3 1/2d. per lb. The Leicester ewes

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crossed with a Mexico ram, give both beauty of fleece, size of carcase, and strength of constitution, as the more pure bred they are, the less hardy are their constitutions. The Avon River, which is found to be the continuation of the Swan River, runs through the York district. The water here is fresh all the year round. There are several large limestone plains about here, which are the certain indicators of good land in New Holland.

The York district abounds in kangaroos, emus--a large bird about the size of the ostrich, and running amazingly fast, without any wings; the bustard or wild turkey, very delicate eating; various descriptions of wild duck, teal, black swans--"the rara avis in terris;" some beautiful bronze-winged pigeons, most excellent food; quails, bandicoots, opossums, cockatoos both black and white, and the various descriptions of paroquets. The Avon or Swan abounds in fish of various sorts. The only destructive animal of the colony, the native dog, is in great abundance: --like all others of the species in their wild state, the native dog cannot bark, but howls most dismally, generally during the night time, when it prowls about in search of food. It stands higher than the English fox, with prick ears and long bushy tail, and, like the fox, is a great robber of hen-roosts and sheep-pens: they have been seen going away with lambs in their mouths of four months old. They always commence their meal by sucking the blood and eating the paunch of the animal they have sacrificed. Their colours are various, but generally of a reddish brown, and the skins are very beautiful and much prized for making caps, on account of their scarcity.

The skin of the kangaroo, when tanned, makes beautiful boots, and every person prefers it during dry weather to calfskin, on account of its yielding like goat skin to the feet; but unfortunately it has the same fault as the

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mentioned skin, namely, it will not do to wear in wet weather, on account of its being porous. It should have been mentioned that the native dog, how great pains so ever may be taken, cannot be tamed. A gentleman took one of a litter he found, and put it to a spaniel slut, and although brought up with her puppies, endeavoured as soon as it could possibly crawl, to get hold of the chickens: he had it two or three years, and during the whole of that time was obliged to keep it chained up with a very short chain, as any fowls that came within its reach, however recently it might have been fed, it invariably killed. Strange to say, but very rare indeed is it, that a kangaroo-dog will catch them, or follow them, although their scent is as strong as a fox's. The duck-billed platibus of Linnaeus is sometimes, though rarely, found in Swan River.

There was an expedition formed for exploring the land, and marking the road between Swan River and King George's Sound, particularly a river seen by Captain Bannister, and called by him the William's River, on which and in the neighbourhood he stated there was some beautiful land. The expedition consisted of Messrs. Bull, Burgess, Phillips, and Harris, myself, a surveyor, a Mr. Hilman in the government employ, six soldiers, and a bugler, and three men. We started in the afternoon from Mr. Phillips' place on the Canning, and halted for that night at Kelmscot, only six miles. There were the two bullock teams of Messrs. Phillips and Harris, and the horse teams of Messrs. Bull and Phillips. The following morning we commenced our undertaking, accompanied by Commissary Lewis, and several gentlemen who wished to see an expedition fairly under weigh, which promised so much benefit to the colony in marking a road directly across. After proceeding over the first range of mountains, which, being our first trial, was a very difficult job, we halted to breakfast; where, after our friends had partaken of our bush fare--

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a very frugal meal--and wished us every success, we again started forward on our journey, the bugle playing the lively air of "The girl I left behind me." We travelled every day for about three weeks over mountain after mountain, sometimes having to halt to make bridges, sometimes to cut through and blast pieces of rock, sometimes to turn back three or four miles on account of having suddenly come to a precipice; and during the whole of the time, to cut the bark of the trees as we went along, which did not leave any of our small party very much leisure time. We had a native with us during our journey that at times provided us with a fresh meal of a bandicoot, oppossum, or some ducks; Mr. Bull having lent him his gun, which he used with great adroitness.

Our cattle and horses fared but badly in crossing the various ranges of mountains, as indeed they did until we got upwards of one hundred miles on our road. The horses suffered considerably less than the bullocks; about twenty-five miles before we arrived at the William's River, an awful disaster overtook us. Our bullocks, which had fared very indifferently off the scrub that we met with on the mountains, as soon as they got into rich pasturage, gorged themselves without allowing sufficient time to chew the cud; the consequence was, that the passage was stopped, not only by the quantity of succulent grass that they had taken into their stomach, but the dry scrub had not left them: had they only been allowed a small quantity of this young grass at a time, and by that means have been obliged to chew the cud, the scrub would naturally have passed from them through the effects of the young grass, whereas the contrary was the effect. Eight of the animals, out of ten that we had with us, were all taken in the following manner: --weakness and incapacity to work, giddiness, and fits, which generally lasted about sixteen hours, and termi-

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nated in death. A bottle of castor oil was given to one, but without effect; a like quantity, with a pound of salts, to another, but still no effect. On opening them, we found that we could cut the honeycomb bag with the knife, the same as a piece of cheese, which was of course the cause of their death. On examination, this bag was found crammed with the scrub only partially masticated. We succeeded with the two horse-carts and one bullock-cart in conveying our own provisions, and the provisions we were taking down for the Governor, and the mounted police who were to join us at the William's River as far as this spot.

The land about this river is certainly the finest I have seen in any part of the colony, particularly calculated for sheep, but equally good for any description of stock; the land on the higher parts is a short sweet grass, mixed with species of wild lucerne and bastard clover; while that in the flats, or lower lands, is the kangaroo grass growing in great luxuriance. Our horses and two remaining bullocks here quite recovered themselves, and were in better order when we started to return, than on our quitting home. The Governor, Sir James Stirling, accompanied by Mr. Trimmer, Mr. Norcott, the Governor's nephew and private secretary, Mr. A. Stirling, and lady Stirling's nephew, Mr. Elliot, joined us the day after our arrival; and on the loss of the bullocks being mentioned, the Governor said he was sorry it had occurred, but added, "Gentlemen," addressing Messrs. Phillips and Harris, "never mind, the Government must consider them to have died in their service, and will consequently remunerate you in money, or at any rate in land, as the Home Government always make good any horse that dies in the conveyance of military stores, &c. in England." On his return, however, to Perth, after his visit to King George's Sound, he referred it to the Legislative Council,

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with his opinion attached to it, that it could not be reasonably entertained, quite forgetful of his former promise. The Governor's party were accompanied by six Europeans of the mounted police, and two natives, named Migo and Molly Dobbin, also belonging to the corps, dressed in the uniform, and well mounted. Their uniform is green, similar to the Rifles, turned up with black and silver lace, Light Infantry caps, and black plumes; their weapons, a brace of pistols, a sabre, and double-barrelled rifle, were the most beautiful I ever saw. I can assure my readers, that the two black gentlemen, as they call themselves, are, in their own estimation, to use an expression not the most elegant, no small beer! We were twenty-four days travelling one hundred and fifty miles, --few days exceeding ten, and very often not making four miles. Two or three days after our arrival, Mr. Harris and a Captain M'Dermot, whom I omitted to mention, went with us, took a small excursion higher up the river than where we had pitched our encampment, accompanied by some soldiers, intending to remain out all night and return the following morning to ascertain if the land nearer the source of the river was of the same excellent description. After having pitched their encampment, and seen the fire lit for the night, the two above-mentioned gentlemen, Mr. Harris and Captain M'Dermot, sallied forth into the interior.

After rambling some considerable time, they turned to regain their encampment; but although they walked, and walked till dark, no encampment could they find. They lay down to sleep, but sleep, you may naturally suppose, had quite deserted them, at the miserable idea of dying of starvation, or probably being speared to death by the natives, for they had gone out even without their guns. After being absent until twelve o'clock next day, the soldiers became alarmed, naturally supposing that they had been killed by the natives, or if their lives had not been

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taken by these ruffians, that they had lost themselves in the bush, and would perish for want, and sent two of their party down to our encampment to bring us the intelligence. To the remaining party, orders were sent to stay where they were encamped, until the following morning, and then return to our encampment. This day passed over without any intelligence of them, although Messrs. Migo and Molly Dobbin got on their tracks and followed them until they found that they had, after a very circuitous route, fallen into the cart tracks, and were following them up. They found the cart tracks about twenty miles below where we were stationed. The third morning after their absence they returned, followed very closely by the two natives and the mounted police. This clearly proves what invaluable hunters the natives are in the bush; the two gentlemen who were lost had several times walked over places entirely covered with stones about the size of an egg, where no traces, to any European's eye, could possibly be left, and nearly the whole time over a green sward, until they came into the cart tracks.

We parted company with the Governor's party, --he to proceed to King George's Sound, and we to return to Swan River. Few of us had any legs left to our trowsers from the continual tramping through the brushwood; and had it not been for some empty flour bags we had with us, which we managed to manufacture into legs for our trowsers, we should have returned merely like bare-legged peasants of Madeira, than Englishmen from an exploring expedition. The Governor and his party pronounced the land, lying between the William's River and within fifty miles of King George's Sound, as most excellent, varying in description as sheep land, grazing land for cattle, and land for tillage; sometimes seeing a plain containing, at the very smallest calculation, ten thousand acres, and not requisite to fell a tree: they crossed several good fresh water

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rivers, and saw large quantities of every description of game. About forty-five miles before entering King George's Sound, the land becomes swampy and marshy, and continues so nearly into the town of Albany. We were only a fortnight coming back to Swan River, although we brought the whole four carts to within fifty miles of home, where we were obliged to leave one, as we had not sufficient strength to take it over the mountains. Our journey, on the whole, was exceedingly pleasant, and promised to be highly advantageous to the colony at large, as it opened a new district of very valuable land for every species of farming and agriculture; whither several persons, --amongst them Mr. Phillips, Government resident with 100l. per annum, Mr. Harris, Mr. Bull, Capt. M'Dermot, &c. --have already removed their flocks, and part of their herds. On an excursion like this we found the bugle a great assistance in lightening the toils of our journey.

The greatest drawback to Swan River has been the high price of labour, and the necessity, to procure that labour, of giving men spirits; whereas in the sister colonies, whither convicts have been sent, labour, up to the present time, has been procured at a very trifling expence. Add to this the vast extent of grants given to persons on the only land that can be turned to any account on the banks of Swan, Canning and Murray, and many of these absentees, officers in the navy and army. Mr. Peel's grant is one instance of the immense tracts of land appropriated to private individuals. This gentleman had sixty thousand acres given him on the Murray; and had he arrived in the colony two or three months earlier than he did, would have had a like enormous quantity given him on the banks of the Swan, to the very serious detriment of other persons, who had quite as strong a claim to their proportion of land as this gentleman. Land, in the

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early part of the colony, was appropriated to persons at the rate of one acre for every 1s. 6d. worth of goods they brought into the colony and the value of the stock they bought there. This was ascertained by the production of the accounts, many of which I can safely say, were what is generally known by the name of salt-water certificates, namely, bills made out and receipted at sea, with an addition of some ten or fifteen percent, to their value.

It may not be inappropriate here to say some little of the Peel bubble. This gentleman went out under the auspices of Mr. Levy, who was then in England, of the firm of Cooper and Levy of Sydney, an immensely rich house, who found the means of chartering two vessels to convey out the stores and labourers (300 in number, including men, women and children) of Mr. Peel who were to till that land, which would soon enable Mr. Peel to refund the money borrowed of Messrs. Cooper and Levy with interest, and in the course of a very short time, allow him to retire to England with a handsome independent property, increasing enormously every succeeding year. And how has this bubble burst? When he landed his deluded fellow-creatures on the wilds of Australia, there were many of them dying from the effects of the scurvy; and prior to their being in Swan River six months, many of them died from this disease and starvation. Died! Yes! he had not six months' provision for them on their landing in the colony, and many of them have been seen, at that time running down to the beach nearly starved to death, craving of the persons who landed, a morsel of bread, to give to their suffering offspring. And what was the result of this misjudged speculation, I might almost say, in human flesh? Why, as soon as the men could procure labour from any other person, by which they could support their famishing children, they naturally left the service of a man who had neither the means nor inclination

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to assist them except with his notes on Sydney, which very few persons would take, and those who were foolish enough to cash them, found on their arrival in Sydney that Mr. Levy was dead, and Mr. Cooper not at all inclined to proceed in an affair in which he had already lost so much money, and which had always been carried on expressly against his will.

Notwithstanding the awful sufferings of these poor creatures, Mr. Peel was endeavouring, during the time I was in the colony, to wrench from them the little money they had earned, under the excuse that they had quitted and neglected his service. And why did they neglect it? I answer; because the agreement was first broken on the part of the person to whom they expected to look for aid and assistance, in all their troubles and distresses, at a distance of some fifteen thousand miles from their native homes. I leave my readers to judge for themselves, what has been the conduct of Mr. Peel. I should mention that he offered to take out one hundred and fifty Spitalfields weavers, but he could not agree with the parish as to the price they would give per head--miserable dictu! And pray, my readers may naturally ask, What good would a Spitalfields weaver do in the wilds of Australia? I answer; simply that he must have turned a day-labourer, and from being unaccustomed to such arduous work, and the warm climate, would gradually have sunk under it.

Amongst Mr. Peel's cargo was half a ton of horse-shoes--a carriage--and some twenty very handsome steel polished grates, which I believe are to this day lying on Garden Island, rusted into pieces. Had this money been expended in providing food for his servants, instead of being laid out in this improvident manner, what an alteration! I should mention of this gentleman, that his son was a private in the mounted police, and afterwards went

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to Sydney, where he was made constable in the police, and the last time I heard of him, he was a sawyer up at Illawarra. Mr. Peel was without any servant in the years 1834, and part of 1835, even to cook his dinner or wash his clothes, or dig in his garden--the general fate of all unjust and improvident men.

When Sir James Stirling returned to Swan River in 1834, the late Earl of Egremont made him a present of two thorough-bred stallions, and some well-bred mares, for the use of the colony; one of these stallions was sold to a person named Marrs, for Charles Smith, a butcher of Sydney. The animal was shipped, and three days after he left the port, in a vessel called the Sir David Ogilby, he died. The other stallion (Napoleon) was sold to Mr. Brockman. The carriage of his Excellency, from his not being able to use it, was sent to Sydney for sale.

To the industrious mechanic, Swan River opens a very fine field; wages being good, --for a very small sum you may buy a town allotment, and build your own house, by which means you would be quit of rent, which so much distresses the mechanic, with a family, in England. There is certainty, to the steady, industrious, and clever workman, of constant employment; to the bricklayer, carpenter, plasterer, painter, stonemason, cabinet-maker, &c, the prospect is very good; but this only if he be sober; to a man addicted to drinking, Swan River would very soon be his grave, as it has already been to many intemperate men, as the burial-ground will fully corroborate.

The gardens in Perth and the immediate vicinity are very productive, supplying the town with vegetables, and some few fruits, at a very reasonable rate. The colony now grows plenty of wheat for its own consumption: in 1833, wheat, immediately after the harvest in December, was as high as fifteen shillings a bushel, while

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in January, 1836, it was down to eight shillings a bushel. The Swan River timber is very handsome, and durable, especially the mahogany or cedar; it is the only wood into which the white ant, a very small and destructive animal, will not get. They get into deal, and entirely destroy it in the course of a very short time; paint will preserve the wood from their ravages, provided you leave no spot on the wood, whether under-ground or above-ground, by which these things can possibly gain admission; they are more destructive to clothes and linen than the moth. The thermometer, in the height of summer, ranges as high as 92° in the shade.

The coast of New Holland is frequently visited, during the summer months, with violent storms, accompanied with a great deal of thunder and lightning. The natives report the existence of a very large inland sea, which, if report speaks true, empties itself on the south side of New Holland, between King George's Sound and South Australia. Gentlemen have gone to ascertain if such a thing really does exist or not. A very fine harbour has been found on Mr. Peel's land, within the last two years, which will of course be the great sea-port for vessels, on account of the insecurity of Gage's Roads, and raise his land in value very much in proportion. It has been surveyed by some officers in the navy and merchant service, also by the Surveyor-general, a Lieut. Roe, of the Navy, and all join in their commendations of the beauty and security of the anchorage, combined with a very eligible site for a town. The land in the neighbourhood of Albany, King George's Sound, is certainly better than that in the neighbourhood of Fremantle and Perth; the town is very straggling. Sir Richard Spencer, who is the government resident there, has a tolerable house, but it was, in 1836, the only decent house in the place.

I met a Mr. Hawson in Sydney, who informed me

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that he left Newfoundland on account of some religious controversy between the Catholics and Protestants, where he must have declared his sentiments when the Executive Council sat again, of which he was a member, and not wishing to involve himself in any religious debates, he sold his property in Newfoundland, and bought the Abeona schooner, and embarked with his wife and eleven children for the Australian colonies, whither he was drawn on account of the splendid reports he heard of them. He called in first at Pernambuco, on the eastern coast of South America, where a single young gentleman joined him, intending to proceed with them to Sydney. They then touched at the Cape, where they heard such an awful account of Sydney as induced him to leave part of his furniture there, and proceed on to King George's Sound, which he described as the most lovely climate he was ever in, but he could not find anything to do of any description. A gentleman, who was well connected, came to him during his residence there, and begged, with tears standing in his eyes at the time of making the request, a little rice for his family, as, although he had money, he could not buy any in the colony. Mr. Hawson left his wife and nine children at King George's Sound, and, accompanied by his two sons, proceeded on to Sydney. I met him the first Sunday after his arrival, at the house of a relation of mine in Sydney; and, during dinner, he suddenly laid down his knife and fork, and commenced crying; and when questioned by the lady of the house what made him weep, he said, the thoughts that, perhaps, the remainder of his family, that he had left with his wife in King George's Sound, had nothing to eat except bread, and how thankful he should feel when he could see them all in Sydney, to partake of the comforts of civilized life. The colony of King George's Sound has, however, improved very much indeed within

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these last two or three years. The harbour of the Sound is very good, and the town is well supplied with both wood and water. There is plenty of food for cattle in the neighbourhood of Albany.

Before closing this slight sketch of the colony of Western Australia, I may mention one anecdote, which will give a very good illustration of the habits and manners of the aboriginal inhabitants. A native, named Mulligo, having made himself very useful in the family of Mr. Purkis, at Perth, that gentleman gave him a suit of clothes, consisting of hat, jacket, and trowsers, shirt and drawers. The day after Mulligo first put on the suit of clothes, he returned to Mr. Purkis's domicile in the morning without the hat; on being questioned what had become of it, he answered, that he had left it up in a tree. Every morning, when he called there, it was noticed that he had something less on his back than he had the day before, until, in the course of three or four days, he returned sans chemise et sans culottes, and with no other covering than his flannel drawers, and every morning made the same reply to the interrogatory of what had become of his jacket, &c. as he did to the first query respecting his hat, viz. that it was in a tree. After having worn the flannel drawers upwards of a month, and it was impossible for any person to say what had been the original colour, he had the impertinence to ask one of this gentleman's daughters to wash them, at the same time taking them off in the room where she was: and, on her refusing to comply with such a request, he said that if she did not obey his orders, she should no more be a woman of his!

The native women are very hardy in their constitutions. I have seen them walk upwards of eight miles, then be delivered of a child, and, within half-an-hour afterwards, start to walk back again, and accomplish the distance back again within an hour and-a-half.

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The southern and western coasts of New Holland abound with the black whale, fishing stations for which have been established at Swan River and King George's Sound, which are, even in this their early stage, proving very lucrative. Vessels also sail out of the ports belonging to the colonists for the sperm whale fishery, on the northern coast of New Holland, and round by the Friendly, Society, and Fejees Islands, some of them even proceeding as far eastward as the Gallagos Islands, on the Line, but a short distance from the coast of South America. Small vessels also sail out of the ports in search of seals, many of which abound on the coast of New Holland, in the neighbourhood of Cape Leuwin, the south-west point of the Continent. The coast from the Swan River down to Cape Leuwin, is very bold and precipitous, and that from Cape Leuwin very nearly down to King George's Sound of the same craggy description. The bays and rivers of Western Australia abound in various descriptions of fish, some of which are remarkably fine eating. I have seen salmon weighing from ten to twelve pounds, sold in Perth at three for a shilling. The colonists, besides supplying themselves with oil from their own fisheries, ship large quantities of both sperm and black annually to England. A bank was established prior to my arrival in the colony, which failed in November, 1833, but, whether from defective management, ignorance, or the extravagance of the Colonial Secretary, Mr. Peter Brown, who established it, I am unable to say; but the general opinion of the colonists led me to ascribe the last reason; and shortly after my arrival, his notes were offered to me at 5s. each, originally valued at 1l., and at the sale of his stock and effects, which took place some short time afterwards at his farm on the Swan River, the persons who held his notes were so anxious to get some value for them, that they passed them away for 10s. each. Another cir-

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culating medium was commissariat notes, which of course were good. Within the last two years another bank has been established there, under the direction of a Mr. Leake. This gentleman has made a tolerable sum in the colony by discounting settlers' bills at some 20 to 25 per cent., and advancing money on grants, and, for some paltry excuse, foreclosing the mortgage. He will, in my opinion, make a very safe manager for a bank in Swan River: he was formerly a London stock-broker, in partnership with his brother, but having failed, they both went out to Swan River to make fresh fortunes.