Perth. 



CHAPTER VIII, 



Western Australia. 



Early Settlement — Mistaken Land System — Convict Labour — The System Abandoned — Poison 

 Plants— Perth— King George's Sound— Climate— Pearls— Prospects. 



WESTERN AUSTRALIA, as its name implies, is the tract of country- 

 lying upon the western side of the great island continent of the south. 

 A glance at the map shows that the eastern side of the island, and much of 

 the southern, is occupied by the colonies of South Australia, Victoria, New 

 South Wales, and Queensland, the land in which is taken up by squatters, 

 by agriculturists and miners for hundreds of miles inland, while the coast- 

 line is studded with large cities, like Melbourne, Sydney, and Adelaide, and 

 with numerous flourishing settlements. On the other side is the enormous 

 tract of Western Australia, 1300 miles in length from north to south, and 

 800 miles in breadth, thus embracing in extent one-third of the continent. 



