ndred yards, and this measurement was made in a part
which was by no means the widest.

THE COUNTRY ADJACENT.

The bed of the river was composed of fine white sand. The country had a
gentle slope from the interior, and no land of any great elevation was
visible from the farthest point I attained, distant about fifteen miles
from the coast.

Plains of a rich reddish loam bordered the river on each side. These were
occasionally broken by low, gently-rounded hills, composed of the same
soil. Freshwater lagoons, frequented by wild-fowl, were found in several
places; and during the course of my walks, which extended for several
miles in various directions, I saw no termination to this good land
except on approaching the sea, where the salt marshes always commenced;
but along the southern bank of the river, to the point where its mouth
actually disembogued into the open bay, the land was of a fertile
description: the country, even in the dry season, during which we were
there, being covered with rich grass.

I ought here to state that this river is the most southern one that I
have ascertained to be deficient in that universal characteristic of all
those in the south-west of this continent: an estuary. I must observe
that I have not seen the mouths of three or four of the rivers before
enumerated, and cannot therefore say that some of them may not terminate
in estuaries; but the Gascoyne discharges its waters by two mouths of
considerable magnitude, between which lies Babbage Island, the southern
mouth being in latitude 24 degrees 57 minutes.

This is also the most southern river on the western side of this
continent where the rise and fall of tide is sufficiently great to
exercise any influence upon it relatively to the purposes of navigation.
Hence it would appear that the presence of estuaries at the mouths of
rivers on this coast is in some way connected with the amount of tidal
elevation at the points where they are found. The rise and fall here was
about five and a half feet; but there is only one full tide in
twenty-four hours. The first tide rises to a certain point, and it has
scarcely commenced to ebb, ere the second comes slowly in, so that, to a
careless observer, only one tide is perceptible.

PROVINCE OF VICTORIA.

The province of Victoria is situated between the parallels of 27 degrees
30 minutes and 29 degrees 30 minutes south latitude; its most
considerable river is the Hutt, which disembogues into a