124 LIEUT. ROE*S ACCOUNT OF 



and were steering through a dense fog, which con- 

 fined the circle of our vision to within a very short 

 distance round the ship. Suddenly the vapour for 

 a moment dispersed, and shewed us, not more than 

 a mile a-head, the shipping in Gage's Road. 



We found a vast improvement in the colony of 

 Western Australia since our last visit, and again 

 experienced the greatest hospitality from the 

 colonists. To the assiduous attentions of my much 

 valued friend, the Surveyor-General, Lieut. Roe, 

 R. N., I in great measure ascribe my rapid recovery. 

 He gave me a painfully interesting account of an 

 excursion he had made in search of the party left 

 behind by Captain Grey during his exploring 

 expedition in the neighbourhood of Sharks Bay, 

 with the sufferings and disastrous termination of 

 which the public have already been made ac- 

 quainted in the vivid language of the last men- 

 tioned officer. 



It was on one of those soft beautiful evenings, so 

 common in Australia, that I received this narrative 

 from my friend. We had strolled from his cottage, at 

 the western extremity of the town of Perth, and had 

 just emerged from the patch of woodland, conceal- 

 ing it from the view of the Swan, which now lay at 

 our feet. About a mile below, the broad shadow 

 of Mount Eliza, nearly extended across the river ; 

 and in the darkness thus made, the snow-white 

 sails of a tiny pleasure-boat flitted to and fro. 

 Beyond lay the beautiful lake-like reach of the river, 



