ime, and that without much
expense. There is a clear channel all the way up the river for vessels
of 500 tons, commencing about a mile and a half above Freemantle to
Perth; then there are a succession of flats until you pass the islands,
where the navigation continues clear for many miles up the river.

The prospects of the colony are every day improving, to the
satisfaction of all classes; and the great number of respectable
settlers, and their patience and perseverance in establishing
themselves, are the surest grounds for the ultimate prosperity of the
settlement. The only objections, as I can see, that can be urged with
any degree of plausibility against the success of the colony, are, that
the land at Perth and in the neighbourhood is not of that description
to induce the settlers to cultivate, and that all the good land being
now granted, there is no more on this side the mountains to satisfy the
demands of new settlers; but these objections are, I am happy to say,
about to be removed, as an ensign of the 63rd regiment (a Mr. Dale) has
lately returned from a tour of discovery into the interior, and has
brought intelligence, that to the eastward of the Swan River there is
a large and fertile tract of beautiful country, with a river passing
through it, which, from a subsequent visit by Mr. Erskine, a lieutenant
of the 63rd, is likely to prove of the greatest importance to the
colony. Those of the settlers who have not taken up their grants of land
mean to secure them here, and myself among the number, a grant having
been allowed me, at the rate of 3,200 acres. The governor is quite
delighted, and now considers the ultimate success of the colony to be
certain. He intends visiting the country, and tracing the course of the
river, in a few days; and it is my wish to accompany him, if possible,
that I may select my own grant.

The spirit of detraction to which the writer alludes in the early part
of his letter is thus noticed in the _Cabinet Cyclopaedia_, vol. iii.
of Maritime and Inland Discovery: "The difficulties and embarrassments
which the settlers at the Swan River have been obliged to endure, have
been industriously exaggerated by the colonial press; the strong desire
which exists in New South Wales to attract emigrants to that country
being naturally allied with a disposition to disparage every other
settlement."

* * * * *

ON VIEWING CANTERBURY

_From the rural Heights