Page:Diary of ten years.djvu/152

 134 and his party lost their reckoning and their way, and did not arrive there till after seven weeks and three days. The place at which they bivouacked (about the 25th December, 1831) is deemed the best description of country which has been yet discovered. Galway, a man who is splitting timber here now, was of the party: he says, "all the country looked like a great field of oats before harvest;"—(kangaroo grass has very much that appearance). This was upon a river of pools, nearly in the line of a contemplated road between this and King George's Sound; but it is also very far inland. I doubt whether an extensive grazing tract may be found nearer to water-carriage, or more convenient, that at York, where part of my ground is. It seems likely that a settlement may be established there shortly; for already the nucleus of it is formed; therefore, after having relinquished the grant which I had further to the south of the Avon, I was glad to get hold of any near York. That which I have, of 5000 acres, belonged to one who has abandoned the colony; the remaining part I took on a river, supposed to be the issuing of the Avon from the hills on the western plain: I chose this lot because the ground is good, which is more than I knew of any other place at that time; it is not above forty miles from this, and may be reached without either crossing or touching upon the mountains. Time pressed, and I was obliged to make some selection, or lose my opportunity.

Land now is not to be given or exchanged by Government; it must be purchased, at not less than five shillings an acre—a sad loss to us. It is very difficult to save meat here in spring and autumn, much more so than in the heat of summer; the "blow-flies" are not so busy then, or perhaps they are encouraged by the moisture generated at the other seasons. When we have any considerable quantity of fresh meat (which is not often the case) we put it in pickle. Winter meat keeps very well. "Game?"—We have ducks—the wild turkey bird of the bustard kind—and quails;