159 
from South to Western Australia . 
fresh water. A few tea-trees, ami occasionally a few stran¬ 
gling Eucalypti , grew around the margins; but I seldom 
succeeded in finding any grass. 
Passing behind Lucky Bay to the lagoons west of Esperance 
Bay, I traversed a considerable extent of grassy land, consisting 
principally of sandy undulations, but with many patches of 
rich soil in the flats and valleys. Water appeared to be 
abundant; but there was a total absence of all timber but the 
tea-tree. From the salt lagoons we crossed over a very barren 
country, and had much difficulty in procuring any grass for 
our horses. The water is generally very brackish, and there is 
much scrub. The rock formation was principally quartz, iron¬ 
stone, and sandstone, with much grit on the surface. 
About 16 miles N. E. of Cape Riche, we fell in with a 
considerable salt-water river from the W.N.W., which appeared 
to join the sea at a gap left by Flinders in the coast line, and 
marked as “a sandy bight, not perfectly seen.” We found 
several permanent pools of fresh water not very far distant, 
in deep narrow gullies, by which the country hereabouts is 
much intersected. From the depth of the river, and boggy 
nature of its bed, we were obliged to trace its course for about 
ten miles from the sea before we could cross. Along its banks 
there was grass, and more wood than we had previously seen 
anywhere: the trees are Casuarince, tea-tree, and Eucalypti. 
Beyond the point at which I crossed the river, the country 
(as far as I was enabled to judge from a distant view) appeared 
to improve somewhat; many clear and seemingly grass patches 
were seen on the slopes towards the river; and good runs, for 
either sheep or cattle, might probably be found in this direction. 
After crossing the river, we met, for the first time, with stunted 
trees of the kind called mahogany; but it was not until we 
had passed some miles to the westward of Cape Riche that we 
saw any large trees, or got into a country that could properly 
be called a timbered one. Here the mahogany, red gum, 
Casuarincc , and other trees common at King George's Sound, 
abounded, and formed a tolerably dense forest nearly all the 
way to that settlement. 
i arrived at King George's Sound on the 7th July, after 
havino- travelled over an extent of country, which, from sinu¬ 
osities 3 of the coast line and other obstructions, has exceeded 
upwards of 1040 miles in distance from Fowler's Bay ; and 
for the last 590 miles of which I was unaccompanied by any 
but a native of King George's Sound, known by the name of 
Wylie. I have omitted to state that, during the progress of 
our journey, we met with very few natives, and these, for 
the most part, are timid, hut well-disposed. The language 
spoken by them is exactly similar to that of the natives 
of King George's Sound as far as the promontory of Cape le 
Grand; and this similarity may probably extend to the com¬ 
mencement of the Great Cliffs, in about longitude 124^° E. 
