Page:An Australian Parsonage.djvu/53

 CHAPTER II.

The situation of Perth is, as I have already said, a very pretty one. The river is there so wide, and the inward sweep taken by its bank so bold, that the town appears to stand rather upon the shore of some fine lake than upon that of so unimportant a stream as the Swan. This bay, chosen for the site of the capital, is called Melville Water, and is formed by a deep curve of the river bank, commencing at the promontory of Mount Eliza, and extending for a distance of about a mile and a half until it returns towards the opposite shore again by a low sandy stretch of land which almost conceals the farther upward course of the river's channel. Mount Eliza forms a prominent element in the beauty of this spot. Towards the river it is almost precipitous, rising in bold cliffs to a height of about 150 feet from the water which washes its base. On the landward side the hill is differently shaped, since one side slopes very gradually away from the summit, in a direction parallel to the shore, until it meets the low