o proceed at once to the north-west coast, and return
again to Swan River to recruit; saying that we should find the heat there
too great to remain for a longer period. This course Captain Wickham,
after due deliberation, resolved to adopt, and accordingly all the
stores, not absolutely required, were forthwith landed, and the ship made
in every respect as airy as possible. The 25th November was fixed for our
departure, when most unfortunately Captain Wickham, while on his way to
Perth, was attacked with a severe dysentery, and continued so ill that he
could not be brought to the ship till the end of December. The most that
could be effected was done to improve this unavoidable delay; and our
tidal observations, before commenced, were more diligently pursued. We
found the greatest rise only thirty-one inches, and here, as elsewhere on
the Australian coast, we observed the remarkable phenomenon of only one
tide in the twenty-four hours! Surveying operations were also entered on,
connecting Rottnest Island with the mainland; the dangers which surround
it, as well as those which lie between its shores and the coast, were
discovered and laid down: this survey, of great importance to the
interests of shipping in these waters, was ultimately completed on our
subsequent visits to Swan River.

That arid appearance which first meets the settler on his arrival, and to
which allusion has already been made, cannot but prove disheartening to
him: particularly if, as is generally the case, his own sanguine
expectations of a second Paradise have been heightened by the interested
descriptions of land jobbers and emigration agents.

APPROACH TO PERTH.

However, when he ascends the river towards the capital, this feeling of
despondency will gradually wear away; its various windings bring, to his
eager and anxious eye, many a bright patch of park-like woodland; while
the river, expanding as he proceeds, till the beautiful estuary of
Melville water opens out before him, becomes really a magnificent feature
in the landscape; and the boats, passing and repassing upon its smooth
and glassy bosom, give the animation of industry, and suggest all the
cheerful anticipations of ultimate success to the resolute adventurer.
From about the centre of this lake-like piece of water, the eye first
rests upon the capital of Western Australia, a large straggling village,
partly concealed by the abrupt termination of a woody ridge, and standing
upon a pic