THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 99* 



Consequently, I must, as so many others have done, and will 

 continue to do, ask your indulgence for all shortcomings. 



The north-west portion of the large colony of Western 

 Australia is that lying about the 2olh parallel of latitude, and iS' 

 immediately south of what is now well known as the Kimberley 

 district. For a long time the north-west was the most valuable 

 portion of the colony, but the long droughts of several years- 

 duration, and the great falling off in the pearl-shell fishing 

 industry, have very seriously injured its prosperity, and it must 

 take some years to recover from its present depression. 



When I left Melbourne in 1873 I had no experience of bush 

 life, and all my knowledge of Australian aborigines was that 

 obtained by seeing the few from the mission station who 

 occasionally visited the city. These, as most of you know, are 

 many of them only half-castes, and the others are, in the main, 

 very poor specimens of the race, but they prepared me for what 

 I might expect to see on my arrival at my intended destination,, 

 where I was told they still roamed almost as free as before the 

 advent of the white man. That destination was Port Walcot, or, 

 as it was then often called. Butcher's Inlet, so named after 

 Butcher, a pilot, who was there several years before in a ship- 

 called the Tien Tsi7i, which also gave its name to the settlement 

 on the b"each, although the now recognised names of the town 

 and port are Cossack and Port Walcot. By some the port has- 

 been confounded with Nickol Bay, from which, however, it is 

 distant some few miles. Cossack is situate about 1200 miles 

 north of Fremantle, and, at the time I speak of, was only to be 

 reached by a tedious voyage in one of the small coasting vessels- 

 that supplied the then very uncertain communication. Now, and 

 for some time past, there has been a regular monthly steam 

 service between the two places, occupying about six or seven 

 days, but in the year 1873 you might sometimes have a month's 

 enjoyment of the comfortable quarters and high-class fare to be 

 expected in crafts of from 15 to 50 tons. The sea-sick passenger 

 might look in vain for the assistance of a mythical steward, and 

 think himself fortunate indeed if he were not called upon to lend 

 a hand to navigate, or, at least, do his spell at the pumps, both 

 of which I had to do nearly all the way from Melbourne, our 

 vessel being a very leaky one. On my arrival at Cossack it was 

 plainly evident that the place was not over populated with whites ; 

 indeed there were then only about 30,000 in the entire colony, 

 of which nearly the whole were resident in the southern portion. 

 What is known as the north-west comprises, as you will see by 

 referring to the map, a very large area, and as the white popula- 

 tion was then only about 150, and even now does not number 

 many hundreds, it is evident there is not much fear of their being 

 "crowded out" for some years to come. Here I may mention 



