12 
In the Northern or pastoral districts there are large pools in the beds of the 1 
rivers, which are, as a rule, annually flooded; or water can be obtained by either i 
scratching in the sand of the beds, or by shallow sinking on the flooded plains. 
As the stations are almost entirely worked with native labour, it will give some | 
idea of the ease with which water can be obtained, when it is stated that one I ■ 
native mostly can water his flock (of about 1,000) with a bucket and rope. 
Mauy of these shallow water supplies have been opened up in the Murchison I 
district (where stations have gone in for fencing) so that the sheep can water them¬ 
selves. Further to the east ward, at such places as the Yilgarn goldfields, the water i 
supply has been the great trouble, as most of the country is salt. The water is not 
only salt in the ordinary sense, but is almost charged to saturation. Numerous ■ 
wells have been sunk, and small supplies of fresh water met with in places, but I 
this brine was always met with at about the same general water level, and as it is 
a broken country, with numerous reefs and dykes, and the rocks dip almost verti- I 
eally, there is no prospect of sinking through this salt stratum. The best means, ! 
therefore, of obtaining fresh water, will be by constructing large dams to conserve 
the rain water thrown from the large granite hills, and by erecting condensers. In 
one or two places small local soakage of fresh water has been obtained, but these | 
have not proved to be at all permanent. 
This district remaining salt is due to its physical features, as this tract is 
comparatively flat, with no large rivers to drain off‘the water, which has dissolved 
the salt out of the ground. It is certainly true that after several good seasons, j 
many so-called springs of fresh water break out around the granite hills; but it I 
may, as a whole, be called an almost waterless country, and this class of country ex- I 
tends to the border of South Australia. 
Timber. 
This country is splendidly timbered, the different classes of trees being met 
with in belts following pretty closely the same lines as the rainfall. Thus the 
Karri (Eucalyptus Diversicolor) is met with along the South coast, from the South- j 
West corner to a little Eastward of Albany. 
The Jarrah (Eucalyptus Marginata) and Red Gum (Eucalyptus Calophylla) 
form the next belt, which runs in a South-East direction from a point about 100 
miles North of Perth, to the South coast. 
The whole of the South-West portion of the Colony may be considered as one 
immense forest, whilst the timber extends in patches for 300 miles inland to the 
Eastward of Perth, where, in the rich alluvial flats around the salt lakes, extensive 
forests of Morrell, White Gum, and various Malleus are met with. 
In the North, trees of any size are only met with along the sides of the large 
water courses, but here they are generally plentiful, and of good size. 
Baron Sir Ferd, Yon Mueller, K.C.M.G., in the introduction to his “ Report 
on the Forest Resources of Western Australia,” writes: — 
“ The forest-regions of extra-tropic West Australia occupy an area equal to 
the whole territory of Great Britain ; and it is singularlv fortunate for the Colon v 
that over this vast extent of wooded country a, species of Eucalyptus (the Jarrah) 
prevails, which for the durability of its timber is unsurpassed by any kind of tree 
in any portion of the globe. * Linder such circumstances the timber resources must 
be regarded as among the foremost in importance throughout the wide tracts of 
West Australia, even if the many other kinds of utilitarian trees, occurring in the 
more Southern portion of that colonial territory, and the still more varied sorts of 
timber-trees, to be found within the intra-tropic regions of West Australia, were 
left out of consideration.” 
“ It is furthermore of particular advantage to the Colony that its highly valu¬ 
able Jarrah-tiinber is obtainable through at least five degrees of geographic 
