Tlie heat during those months is extreme, but once over, the climate is excellent, 
particularly on the table-lands of the interior. 
During the summer the North-West coast, between Ashburton and Roebuck 
Bay, is subjected to visits of cyclonic storms, accompanied by heavy rains (locally 
called willy-willies) which are a source of danger to life, stock, and property. The 
heat, although often excessive, is for the most part a very “ dry heat,” and the 
settlers from there often complain that the heat in the Southern part of the 
Colony, at a far lower temperature, is much more trying. 
In the Gascoyne and Murchison Districts there is a better rainfall than on the 
North-West coast, most of it inland falling in good heavy summer showers, with a 
fine healthy dry climate for the rest of the year, but nearer the coast there is also a 
fair winter rainfall. 
Extremely heavy dews make up to a great extent for the apparent lack of 
winter rains; and the great heat occasionally experienced is tempered by strong 
cool breezes. 
In the South-West settled portion, the seasons may be divided into wet and 
dry, the former lasting from April to October, and the latter November to March; 
during the summer heavy thunderstorms may occur, but arc most uncertain and 
very local. The climate in this portion of the Colony is unrivalled, being tem¬ 
perate and cool, with a fine rainfall, as is evidenced by the magnificent Jarrah and 
Karri forests, and by the abundance of the fruit and other crops produced. The 
annual rainfall on the coast, from Fremantle to Albany, is about 40 inches, whilst 
the temperature rarely exceeds 100° in summer, or falls below 35° in winter. Fifty 
miles inland, among tin.; ranges, the rainfall does not exceed 20 inches, whilst 
further Eastward the climate is drier, but the soil still appears to receive a fair 
rainfall; little accurate information has, however, yet been obtained, settlements 
having only lately spread out any distance in this direction. 
The settled districts are mostly level or undulating, the South-Western 
seaboard being comparatively flat, of a sandy character, with numerous inlets and 
swamps, with indications of a recent geological formation ; whilst to the Eastward 
of the Darling Range, in the latitude of Perth, the country changes in character, 
and generally improves as you proceed inland. With the exception of a few sand 
plains, the whole of the uncultivated country of the Southern part of the Colony 
may be said to be one vast virgin forest principally timbered with Jarrah, Karri, 
Red and White Gums. 
The country is only well known for about 200 miles inland, but from the infor¬ 
mation gained by explorers, the interior appears to be a vast sandy tableland, 
from 1,000 to 2,000 feet above the sea level, with here and there large areas of 
depression, in which are situated immense salt clay-pans, surrounded by low 
broken ranges of granitic and crystalline rocks. 
Soil . — In this Colony there are as good and as great a variety of soils as in any 
part of the world. Unfortunately only small portions are as yet under cultivation, 
for large tracts of the best land, where there is a sufficient rainfall, are either 
heavily timbered or held by persons who do not cultivate. 
The most sandy country is capable of producing the finest fruits and vege¬ 
tables. 
Cereals are grown as far North as 29° South latitude, and in the Eastern 
districts it is not uncommon for a crop to yield as much as from 20 to 30 bushels 
to the acre. 
Water Supply. 
The settled districts of this Colony are well watered, as is proved by the fact 
that up to the present very little has been done in the way of water conservation, 
the settlers depending almost- entirely upon natural waters. 
