CHAPTER XLV.

Swan River Settlement.-Freemantle.-Swan and Canning Rivers.-Perth.Visit to the Governor, &c.-Sentiments respecting the Aborigines.-Plain of Quartania. Trial of a Black.-Country.-Shells, Fish, &c.-Temperature, and Heated Sand.-Books, &c.-The Peninsula.-Guildford.-York District. -Poisoning of Sheep.-Toogee Country.-Ruinous Effects of Rum.-Price of Land. Revenue and Sources of Income.- Population.- Spirit Law. Fruits.-Upper Swan.-Customs of the Aborigines. -Neglect of Civilization. -Meeting.-Bush Fires.-Zamias.-Native Fair and Customs.

12th mo. 30th. OUR luggage was sent on shore, by a large boat, at the charge of £3! We obtained lodgings at a tolerable inn, at Freemantle, to which we were recommended by Thomas Bannister, with whom we became acquainted, when he was Sheriff of V. D. Land, and from whom we received much kind attention, both at that period, and during our sojourn at the Swan River, Western Australia.

The town of Freemantle is situated behind a little promontory of limestone, at the mouth of an estuary, called Melville Water, into the head of which, near Perth, the Swan and Canning Rivers flow. These rivers form an inland navigation, to a considerable distance, but the opening of Melville Water into the sea, is so choked with rocks, that it is only passable for boats, in fine weather. Vessels discharge their cargoes at a jetty, in a small bay on the south of the town. A tunnel is formed through the promontory, to a place where boats can land with more security, in stormy weather. The houses of Freemantle are of limestone. Many of them have been left unfinished, in consequence of the seat of Government having been removed to Perth; these, as well as others that are occupied, are going to decay. Freemantle resembles some of the

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little coast-villages, on the limestone of the county of Durham, but it is even whiter than they, and it is greatly inconvenienced by the drifting of sand. Fresh water is obtained in shallow wells, in the limestone.

is about 200.

The population

Having learned that the Governor, Sir James Stirling, was likely to make an exploratory voyage, to Port Leschenault, we concluded to pay him a visit before he set out, and for that purpose, proceeded to Perth, in a passage-boat, which reached that place in about two hours. A fine seabreeze made the sail up Melville Water very pleasant, the weather being hot. This estuary widens, in many places, into large bays. The limestone hills on its margin are covered with trees and scrub, and are broken here and there, into picturesque cliffs. On landing, we were welcomed to the Colony, by Major Irwin, a pious, military officer, who invited us to his house. After tea, we called upon the Governor, who, with Lady Stirling, received us kindly. We were also introduced to the Colonial Chaplain, and to several other persons; and the Governor gave us leave to hold a meeting for public worship, in the Court House, which is a neat building, conveniently fitted up, and used as a place of worship, by the Episcopalian congregation. The windows have white calico, in place of glass, and are fitted with Venetian shutters, outside.

At Perth, we became lodgers, in the homely dwelling of the widow of a Colonial Surgeon; in whose house, several other persons were also inmates. The bed-rooms were without plaster on the walls, or glass in the windows, and fleas were very numerous. Circumstances like these are not uncommon in newly-settled countries, in warm climates. But we had learned to put up with inconveniences of this kind, and gratefully acknowledged the endeavours of our landlady, to do her best to accommodate her guests.

The town of Perth consists of several streets, in most of which there are but few houses. Some of these, as well as the fences about the gardens, appear to be going to decay. The streets are of sand, mixed with charcoal, from the repeated burning of the scrub, which formerly covered the

ground, on which the town stands. The principal street has a raised causeway, slightly paved, by which the toil of wading through the grimy sand may be avoided. Many beautiful, native shrubs grow in the borders of the gardens, most of which are in a neglected state. A few, on the slope to the head of Melville Water, have the advantage of being moistened, by filtration, from some lagoons, at the back of the town; these are well cultivated, and produce fine crops of Grapes and Melons. The lagoons are much filled with the Cats-tail Reed, Typha latifolia, the root of which is eaten by the Natives. They are margined with blue Lobelias, and various species of Drosera and Villarsia; and other pretty plants. Moschettos are numerous, and very troublesome in the evening.

31st. We met a congregation of upwards of two hundred persons, a large number for the place, the population being only about six hundred. Several of the influential inhabitants were present. I had an open season of religious labour, and endeavoured to turn the attention of the audience to "the gift of God," and to Him who is able to give the "living water," "which they who drink of, shall never thirst."

In conversation respecting the Aborigines, with a medical man, from the country, he stated his opinion to be, that they were a people who deserved no consideration, but whom it would be best to destroy whenever they were troublesome! To this sentiment, we replied, that neither Christianity, justice, nor even common sense admitted such an idea; and that though, according to the notions of these people, blood was required for blood, yet that persons who voluntarily settled in a country, which the British Government had usurped, ought, with that Government, to labour for the civilization of the Native Inhabitants, and to bear patiently the inconveniences resulting from their customs, until these could be changed. There is reason to fear, that many other persons entertain similar sentiments, but the Colonial Chaplain, with whom we dined, at the table of the Governor, said, he believed that in almost every case, where any of the white people had been destroyed by the Blacks, the Whites were the faulty party.

The native Blacks, who are numerous about Perth, are a fine race, and far from defective in intelligence: they have a few, irregular, elevated scars upon their bodies, generally about their shoulders; their teeth are not injured, as a token of manhood, as in N. S. Wales; they usually wear a small rug, of Kangaroo-skin, about their shoulders, but not unfrequently, the men walk about Perth and Freemantle in a state of nudity, and custom appears so to reconcile this practice, that little pains is taken to discourage it. They cut wood, draw water, and perform many other little offices, for the European Population; for which they obtain bread, or money, which they lay out in bread, the two-pound loaf now costing 1s. They have not acquired a taste for tobacco, or spirits, nor do they show a disposition to wear English clothing. They are remarkably docile, but scarcely any attempts have been made to civilize them. We are informed that the people here have been discouraged from attempting any thing in this way, by the ill success which they understand has attended such efforts in N. S. Wales. There seems a great willingness to suffer the Aborigines to dwindle away, under the easy conclusion, that thus the Indians of North America, and the Natives of Van Diemens Land, passed away, and that as nothing could be done for those of New South Wales, any attempt at so hopeless a task, as their civilization here, is not of much consequence.

1st mo. 1st. 1838. We returned to Freemantle, by land, and found the journey very tedious. Though the road lies over one of those portions of the Great Plain of Quartania, marked on maps "gently undulating grassy country, thinly timbered," it is difficult to find grass upon many parts of it, but there is abundance of rigid herbage, chiefly of a stemless Xanthorrhea, called here the Ground Blackboy, and a profusion of rigid shrubs, unfit for pasturage, except, perhaps, for goats, camels, or asses. The distance, said to be eleven miles, is over a loose sand, adorned with curious trees, and gay shrubs and flowers. Thus, as in other instances, the soil with the gayest productions, is the worst in quality. The gay Nuytsia floribunda, attains to forty feet in height, and six feet in circumference; it is called

in the Colony, Cabbage-tree, because of a faint resemblance, in the texture of its branches, to cabbage-stalks: its top, at this season, is one mass of golden, orange, or yellow flowers, while the lower portion is of a pleasant green. Banksia grandis attains to twenty feet, and some other species of this genus, to a greater elevation. A fine, yellow Calythrix; a yellow and red, and a sky-blue Leschenaultia; a crimson, linear-leaved Callistemon; a scarlet Melaleuca; a crimson Calothamnus, with several species of Jacksonia, &c. are now in blossom.

A Black was tried yesterday, and sentenced to death, for beating two boys, leaving them for dead, and driving off the sheep that were under their care. Dr. Guistiniani, a missionary, about to leave the Colony, pleaded for the Black, and compared the taking away of the sheep, by the Natives, with the destruction of the Kangaroos, by the Whites: he urged, that undue temptation was put into the way of the Blacks, by placing the sheep in the charge of such very young boys.

3rd. Much of the country near Freemantle, is of limestone, covered with sand; it is unproductive of herbage, adapted for flocks, and unlikely, in a state of nature, to yield any thing for the support of a new colony. With a little culture, it is said, however, to yield good vegetables. Potatoes are excellent, and in some situations, produce three crops in a year. Vines and figs thrive, even in the town, where the limestone rock, is covered with little but fragments and sand. Industry is not great in the Colony, and much of the land will yield nothing without it.

4th. In the evening, we took a walk, on Arthurs Head, the promontory, at the mouth of Melville Water, the top of which is rough, stony, and covered with scrub. From this point, we saw the effect of oil, in stilling the sea; some had been pumped out of a ship, with leaky casks on board, and it rendered the surface of the ocean strikingly smooth, for a great distance. We had some conversation with two persons, who have known much of the Colony, from its settlement, and who consider that it has struggled through its first difficulties. One of them afterwards acknowledged, that he believed the whole population