THE INTERIOR OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA. 43 



no (loubtj to bad management^ were widely circulated. But time 

 lias proved the accuracy of Mr. Traser's views, and we now hear no 

 complaints, but, on the contrary, the most gratifying intelligence of its 

 prosperity. In a botanical point of view, too, the Colony has the ad- 

 vantage of reckoning among its settlers one of the most indefatigable 

 and zealous collectors in Mr. James Drummond ; and our pages are not 

 wanting in communications from him, and in the narrations of liia 

 journeys and discoveries. Very recently we have been favoured with 

 the correspondence of J. S. Roe, Esq., Surveyor-General of Western 

 Australia, who, during part of the years 1848-9, was engaged in a survey 

 of the interior, from the Swan towards Mount Enssell, in longitude 

 123^ 28' W. Perhaps, had Mr. Fraser been required to state in what 

 the Swan Eiver district was deficient, he would have said, timber and 

 coal within a reasonable distance of the Colony. The very expedition 

 to which I now allude, of Mr. Roe, rendered the Colony the inestimable 

 blessing of the discovery of both these commodities, — timber suited 

 for naval purposes, and coal in considerable abundance, and in each 

 case so near the coast as to render the transport both of the one and 

 the other a matter of no difficulty. 



Nor was Mr. Roe inattentive to the flora of the counti-y he passed 

 through. Fatigue and hardships, and want of facilities of convey- 

 ance, rendered it impossible to do more than here and there snatch up 

 a few specimens, and preserve them in the best way circumstances 

 would allow. These may be found worthy of notice in another place 

 in our Journal. It may suffice to say now, tliat tl\e species collected 

 are remarkably well dried, and chiefly belong to the MyrlacedB^ Legumi- 

 nos{B^ Froteace(je^ and CompoHit^. Many, as may be expected, are iden- 

 tical with those of Mr. Drummond from Swan River and King George's 

 Sound. They were accompanied with a considerable collection of seeds, 

 kindly destined by Mr. Roe for the Royal Gardens. The journal 

 which we have received, commences at Cape Riche, on the south 



coast ; it brings the party back to that place, and then includes the 

 journey by a different route, following the direction of the Collie River 

 (where the naval timber was discovered), to Perth, the head-quarters 

 on the Swan River. I re^et that the nature of this Journal does not 

 allow the introduction of a map, such as the very excellent one that 

 Mr. Roe has sent, and the more so, because nearly the entire country 

 is new. It may suffice to say that, after going from Cape Richc in a 

 N.E. course to Bremer Range, in longitude 120^ 30' E.. latitude 32^ 35' 



