tions worth mentioning indigenous, but there
is some fine timber, which will no doubt become a valuable article
of exportation: it is between the mahogany and the elder, and may be
applied to all the purposes of the former. Its greatest recommendation
is, that the white ant will not touch it, and it will consequently be
a great desideratum where that insect abounds. We have likewise the red
and blue gum, but in no great quantity, in the immediate vicinity of
Perth. The animal productions are the same as on the other side of the
island, as also the birds. The rivers swarm with fish, every one of
which is good eating; but it is only lately that we have been well
supplied with them. There is abundance of limestone ready at hand in
most parts of the river, as well as the finest and strongest clay,
plenty of which runs along the shore that bounds Perth, for a mile and
a half, as you will see by the map. Of the mineral resources of the
country nothing is as yet known; for every one has been too much
occupied in locating himself to give that subject any attention. By
the reports from England, it appears that from the misfortunes which
happened to the first ships that came out, a very unfavourable opinion
is formed of the safety of the port. Gage's roads afford a very good
anchorage during the summer months; but, being exposed to the north-west
winds, it is a very insecure station during the winter, the ground being
rocky and a loose sand; but this evil, I am happy to say, is in a great
measure obviated by the discovery of a good anchorage about four miles
to the southward of the mouth of the river, and marked in the map as the
Britannia Roads. The bottom is firm holding ground, and has been proved
to be a very secure anchorage during the late gales, when all the ships
in Gage's Roads went on shore, while those on the Britannia Roads rode
it out, with the exception of one ship, which broke her anchor. Besides,
a passage has lately been found out from Gage's Roads to Cockburn, into
which ships may run, if they are too much leeward of the Britannia
Roads; so that you see we may always have a refuge from the storm.
I hope you will take care to give publicity to _this_ circumstance,
because it is one upon which the success of the colony mainly depends.
The bar at the mouth of the river, and the flats in various parts of its
course, are a great drawback to our communications; but these evil will
no doubt be remedied in the course of t