The Sun.
London, England, 1862-02-27 00:00:00

following its windings in a north .westerly direction,
through a grassy country, tolerably well wooded
near the banks of the river, up to the 18th, where
it formed a junction with the De Grey, in lat. 20
deg. 41 m. 30 sec. S., long. 12 deg, 21 m. E. From
the junction the united channels of these two streams
formed a fine river, from 230 to 400 yards wide, con-
taining pools and reaches of water, some of consider-
able depth, in which were abundance of fish of seve-
ral varieties, amongst them eels, which I had not
before seen in any of the rivers in Western Australia.
The De Grey was followed downwards in a
west-north-west direction 75 miles, receiving se-
veral streams from the southward, amongst them
the Shaw and the Strelley. From the confluence
of the latter, in long. 119 deg. 5 m., and lat. 20 deg.
16m., it turned northward, and 16 miles further
disembogucd by two channels, one into Breaker
Inlet, and the other towards the west side of Spit
Point ; the greater portion of the country from the
bend northwards being an alluvial delta, much of
which is fertile, and yielding a large quantity of
luxuriant grass.

Several days having been employed in examining
the country to the east and west of the Inlet, we
returned to the junction of the Strelley, and on the
Ist October commenced ascending it to the south-
ward. Four days, through open plains of rather
in ferior pasture, brought us to the foot of the granite
hills, in lat. 21 deg. S., from which point we took
a westerly course through the hills to the gorge of
the Yule, making our camp of 13th August by the
sth October. The country passed over between the
Strelley and the Yule being intersected by several
stream beds, flowing to the N.N.W., some of them
more than 100 yards wide, with good grass on their
banks and in some of the valleys.
At the Yule we left hid in a rock a pack-saddle
and 601 b weight of horse-shoes and nails, as another
horse had given in, and was hardly able to come on
even without a load. Our time not admitting of
our waiting long enough on this river to restore the
strength of the over-worked animals, we continued
our route towards Nickol Bay, nearly on our out-
ward track, to ensure finding water, reaching the
Sherlock by the 11th, having been obliged to leave
another horse behind, near abundance of both feed
and water. It was one sent by Mr. T. Burges.
On the Sherlock we were met by a party of 10
or 12 natives, who came boldly up to us, which was
the first time that any of them had done so since
our leaving the bay. From them, by the help of
Mr. Walcott's vocabulary, we obtained several mat-
ters of information relative to the vicinity, but their
inveterate habits of thieving very soon compelled
us to keep them out of our camp, which they resen-
ted by setting fire to the long grass, to try to burn
us out.

Resuming our homeward movement on the 13th,
we, by easy stages, travelling only early in the
morning and late at night, arrived without much
difficulty in the bay. On the morning of the 17th,
finding all going on well, the watering of the ship
having been kept up to ensure an ample supply for
our horses on the return voyage, as it would have
been useless and dangerous to attempt the passage
of them overland in their present condition, more
particularly as this was the driest period of the year.
The distance travelled on this trip was 985 geo-
graphical miles, making a total of 1,765, or 2,040
statute miles.

Giving the horses a day or two to rest before
swimming them off to the ship, I availed myself of
the delay to examine the N.E. shore of Nickol Bay,
with a view to the selection of a suitable site for a
settlement, Mr. Walcott having reported a good
anchorage in that quarter. I accordingly, on the
19th October, stated in the life-boat with Captain
Dixon, and ran across to Cape Lambert, taking
soundings, and landing at several places to procure
bearings, and ascertain, if possible, the existence
of fresh water, The result, however, was unfavour-
able, although more than one excellent anchorage
was found, yet no water was procured, the coast
being rocky, and intersected by many mangrove
creeks.

A portion of the land shown on the Admiralty
charts as belonging to Cape Lambert, we found to
be an island, which I have accordingly named after
the captain of the Dolphin,
The weather having proved unfavourable, we did
not succeed in returning to the ship until noon
on the 21st, when we weighed and stood in for
the landing cove, for the purpose of shortening
the distance we should have to swim the horses off.
Light winds, however, prevented our getting in near
enough that night, but the following morning the
Dolphin was anchored in 11 feet water, 11 mile off
a point from which we towed off 8 horses the same
afternoon.

The remaining 6 horses and the equipment of
the Expedition having been safely shipped by 4
p.m. on the 23d, we finally got under weigh, with
a westerly wind, and stood out to sea through the
passage between Hauy and Delambre Islands, in 9
fathoms water. From this time to the 3d of Nov.,
contrary winds carried us to long. 101 E. and lat.
31 deg. S., where we met favourable winds, which
brought us in sight of Mount Williman by the Bth,
and the following day came to anchor in Gage's
Roads, after a passage of 17 days.
It had been my intention to have called at
Champion Bay, and land the gentlemen and horses
belonging to that district; but having been driven
so far to the westward, I deemed it advisable to
land the whole party at Fremantle, and make ar-
rangements to forward the horses belonging to the
northern settlers overland, by Mr. Maitland Brown,
enabling me at once to terminate the charter party
of the Dolphin.
Adopting the course which I have found most
convenient on similar occasions, I now proceed to
offer a few remarks on the general feature, produc-
tions and natural capabilities, &c., of the country
traversed by the expedition, which could not, with-
out disadvantage, have been- introduced into the
foregoing narrative.

Commencing with its geographical and geologi-
cal peculiarities, that portion of the country that came
under observation consists of a succession of ter-
races, rising inland for nearly 200 miles, more or
less broken up by .volcanic hills towards the coast.
The first belt averages from 10 to 40 miles in width
from the sea, and is a nearly level plain, slightly
ascending to the southwards, with an elevation of
from 40 to 100 feet, the soil generally being either
light loam or strong clays, according as it is the re-
sult of the disintegration of the granite rocks that
occasionally protrude above its surface, or of volca-
nic rocks of black scoria that frequently interrupt
the general level. Hills of this nature also consti-
tute the greater portion of the more elevated islands
off the coast, Cape Lambert, and the promontory
that shelters the western side of Nickol Bay. The
generality of these rocks do not, however, yield so
rich a soil as might be expected from their origin ;
this is owing to the absence of actual lava, the erup-
tive heat having only been sufficient to convert the
superincumbent primary and tertiary rocks into a
vitreous scoria, having a specific gravity of 3.2, and
is highly indestructible in its texture.

Proceeding inland for the next 50 or 60 miles is a
granite country that has been originally cropped
with horizontal sandstones, and has an elevation of
about 1,000 feet; this range terminates to the south-
ward in level plains of good soil, the produce of the
next series of more elevated country, while towards
the northern edges the granite and sandstones have
undergone great changes through the action of nu-
merous trap dykes that have greatly disturbed its
surface, producing metamorphic rocks, some resem-
bling jasper, and others highly cellular and scoriace-
ous.

In about latitude 22 degrees on the meridian of
Nickol Bay, we come upon another and more ele-
vated range, trending away to the S.E , having an
altitude of 2,500 feet above the sea. This, unlike
the last section, has a southern escarpment of 500
or 600 feet, and consists of horizontal sandstones
and conglomerates, which have comparatively un-
dergone little change, and has an average breadth
of eight or 10 miles, the southern flank being bor-
dered by fertile valleys of strong loamy clays
merging gradually to the southward into strong
ridges and hills, some having an elevation of nearly
4,000 feet, the culminating point being attained at
Alount Bruce in lat. 22 deg. 30 m.
From this point the country gradually falls to the
Ashburton, the bed of which river, in the same
meridian as the bay, is about 1,600 feet above the