NATURAL FEATURES OF ISRAELITE BAY. 
563 
all are occupied with penguin, mutton birds, and wild ducks. Here, 
too, is the home of the seal, both hair and fur; and glad am I that 
, the Government have afforded them protection in their Game Bill, as 
the wholesale slaughterings lately conducted, at a time when the poor 
little cubs could not exist alone, would only end in their extinction. 
Thi s archipelago is capable of supporting a large population. When 
West Australia affords a market, I shall expect to find here a hardy 
people combining fishing and market-gardening. Where on the face 
of the earth could invalided Indians or Australians find a more perfect 
sanatorium with a climate which shows neither extreme ? 
I proceed to another natural feature. Hitherto the coastline has 
been very broken and irregular, affording numerous bays and harbours, 
several of which, as Esperance Bay, the Due J}* Orleans* Bay, &e., 
offer safety and accommodation for a fleet; the general run of the 
line has been almost east and west, the northing made being almost 
imperceptible. On passing Point Malcolm, however, all is altered ; 
a most decided trend to the north is noticed; a low, sweeping saudy 
beach is seen quite dazzling in the bright sunlight, and you are aware 
you arc at the western end of the Great Australian Bight. Away in 
the distance you can see some higher sandhills, aud they, the sea, and 
sky get so mixed you cannot sav where one ceases and the other 
begins ; beyond is Israelite Bay. Here, it will be found, the sandhills 
overlie a large granite rock protecting them on the seaward side, and 
named Point Dempster. This sand-patch, though by no means the 
last of the sand-drifts, is the last of them composed of white sand. 
A low sandy curved beach, at the end of which, opposite to Point 
Dempster, and about three miles from it, is a small granite rock named 
Point Lorenzcn, an island in the high tides and almost connected with 
Point Dempster by a reef. Such is Israelite Bay. Beyond Point 
Lorcnzen for two or three miles the granite crops up again on the 
beach, and this is its eastern limit on West Australian shores, and it is 
abreast of tlie last of the islands ; and then for miles ahead you see 
the white sandy beach, and the long lines of breakers slowly rolling in 
on it. Arrived there it is still white sandy beach, aluiost a right line, 
for miles at a stretch ; you look back and it is the same, and ever in 
the distance has a smoky appearance from the mist off the breakers. 
This is the Seventy-mile Beach. I may as well state here that there is 
nothing cramped or confined in any of the features of this country ; 
all its proportions are on an ample, if not colossal, scale. Thirty miles 
from Israelite Bay is the Wattle Camp Sandpateh. The reason I 
mention it is that an observer will notice the difference between this 
and any other hitherto passed, the sand being so fine and possessing a 
yellow tint. 
From these sandhills, looking north-east along the now slowly 
curving beach, will be seen in the distance what look like five or six 
gigantic sugarloaves or icebergs on top of the sea. This is the Point 
Culver Saudpatch. It is 25 miles in length. The highest points 
must attain 150 to 200 feet, and it is said to greatly resemble a 
vast snowdrift. The wind blows the fine sand into a crest on the 
summit of the hills with an edge as sharp and clear cut as a knife, and 
the eye follows these undulating lines for miles until lost in sheer 
distance. These sand-drifts, but particularly this one, have a calm 
majestic beauty all their own. If you are on the inland side, the deep 
