ning
on in front to tap the rails and joints, and to see that all was safe.
About three-quarters of a mile of rail is laid each day. It is being
built on what is called the land-grant system; that is to say, for
every mile completed the Government give the railway company 6,000
square acres of land, to be chosen at the completion of the line by
the company's agent, the Government reserving to themselves the right
of alternate frontage to the railway. The distance from Albany to
Beverly (a town standing about 120 miles equidistant from Perth and
Fremantle, which will be the terminus of the line, at any rate for the
present) is 220 miles. The line was commenced and should have been
carried on from both ends, but the contractors find it much cheaper to
work only from the Albany end. It ought to be a very cheap line, for
it requires scarcely any earthworks and no rock-cuttings or bridges,
the soil being loose and gravelly with a granite foundation. There are
few rivers to cross; and timber for the sleepers is to be had in
abundance, and of the best quality, from the trees which must
necessarily be cut down to clear the forest for the passage of the
line. The entire road was to have been completed in three years from
the time of commencement; but it will probably be finished in about
two, as a good deal of the work is already done.

[Illustration: Black-Boys]

We were taken by another branch line to some saw-mills, where the
sleepers for the railway are prepared. Here some of us got into a
light American buggy drawn by a fine strong pair of cart-horses, in
which conveyance we took our first drive through the bush. To me it
seemed rather rough work, for in many places there was no track at
all, while in others the road was obstructed by 'black-boys' and by
innumerable tree-stumps, which the horses avoided or stepped over
most cleverly. Still the wheels could not be expected to show quite so
much intelligence, and we consequently suffered frequent and violent
jolts. From the driver--a pleasant, well-informed man--I learnt a good
deal respecting the men employed on the line. There are about 130
hands, living up here in the forest, engaged in hewing down, sawing,
and transporting trees. These, with the women and children
accompanying them, form a population of 200 souls suddenly established
in the depths of a virgin forest. They have a school, and a
schoolmaster who charges two shillings a week per head for schooling,
and has