THE FIEST YEAR OF THE SETTLEMENT 145 



land I have ever passed over. S 's, M 's and mine all join ; 



they contain about 200,000 acres, and I assure you, there is not an 

 acre of bad land upon that quantity. I never saw such a beautiful 

 country in my life, and no exertion or price ought to be spared in 

 securing it. We limited Mr. M. to 50,000, but it will be cheap at 

 100,000." 



No doubt such a property was worth fighting for, but this letter 

 is almost the only indication of the extent to which some at least 

 of the members of the Association were prepared to back up their 

 claims by a really substantial payment, nor does it appear from Mr. 

 Mercer's negotiations in the mother-country that he ever publicly 

 disclosed the powers he was armed with. 



After an exhaustive and entirely satisfactory examination of all 

 the properties, during the later period of which Gellibrand crossed 

 and named the Plenty Eiver, he sailed again for Launceston on 

 the 17th of February to convey to his colleagues the glad tidings 

 of their prospective prosperity. 



In March John Aitken was back again with stock, but he did 

 not trouble the " settlement," as the village on the Yarra was then 

 called. The Chili, brig, which he had chartered to bring over 

 his 600 sheep, took the ground in the South Channel, and they 

 had to land the sheep at the foot of Arthur's Seat. About eighty 

 natives of the Western Port tribe, attracted by the unwonted sight, 

 evinced quite an energetic friendliness, not only assisting to get 

 the sheep ashore, but some of them volunteering in the combined 

 character of guide and shepherds to bring the party to the Yarra. 

 Where they forded the river is not on record, but with an utter 

 disregard of any supposed rights Mr. Aitken led his fleecy contingent 

 across the partitioned country till he lighted upon a spot which 

 pleased, about half-way between Sunbury and Gisborne, where 

 a prominent hill, to which Governor Bourke afterwards gave the 

 name of Mount Aitken, marked the locality of his station. True, 

 it was actually on Lot 5, which had been awarded to Mr. Sams, but 

 he was not in possession, and his claim was so far only shadowy. 

 Here Mr. Aitken sat down and prospered for more than twenty 

 years. By purchase he eventually secured an extensive freehold 

 property in the neighbourhood, though Mount Aitken and its 

 VOL. i. 10 



