y seems very bad,
although the hills above abound with pure springs. The drainage from
stables, farm-buildings, poultry yards, and various detached houses
apparently has been so arranged as to fall into the wells which supply
each house. The effect of this fatal mistake can easily be imagined,
and it is sad to hear of the valuable young lives that have been cut
off in their prime by this terrible illness.

In the course of our drive we passed near an encampment of aborigines,
but did not see any of the people themselves. We also passed several
large heaps of whales' bones, collected, in the days when whales were
numerous here, by a German, with the intention of burning or grinding
them into manure. Formerly this part of the coast used to be a good
ground for whalers, and there were always five or six vessels in or
out of the harbour all the year round. But the crews, with their usual
shortsightedness, not content with killing their prey in the ordinary
manner, took to blowing them up with dynamite, the result being that
they killed more than they could deal with, and frightened the
remainder away.

The steward's report on the resources of the place from a marketing
point of view is more curious than encouraging. There is no fresh
butter nor milk to be had, except through the kindness of a few
private individuals. Mutton abounds, but there is very little beef or
veal. Good York hams are to be procured from England only. Fruit and
vegetables are brought down from Perth or come over from Adelaide, and
the most eatable salt butter is brought from Melbourne.

[Illustration: Kingia]

_Wednesday, May the 11th._--It had been settled that to-day should be
devoted to an excursion to the forests which are now being opened up
by the new line of railway in course of construction. The special
train of ballast-trucks which had been provided for us was to have
started at ten o'clock, soon after which hour we landed, some delay
having been caused at the last moment by the receipt of a message
requesting us to send ashore every rug we possessed, in order to make
the truck in which we were to travel as comfortable as possible. The
required wraps and furs had accordingly to be got up from the hold,
where they had lain for months past. On landing we found a pleasant
party assembled to receive us, including the engineer of the new line,
Mr. Stewart, and his wife. In due course we were all seated on two
long planks, back to back, in open