Page:Diary of ten years.djvu/366

 348 large repayment of £1 for each share of £15, paid up a year ago.

I went to Perth on Monday with the Acts of Council ready drawn up, and thought to have had a busy week, with all the Council, preparing for our great day for discussing our budget, &c., which was fixed for Tuesday next, when, lo and behold, I found the Governor had gone off somewhere into the country; that Major Irwin had gone to York, and Mr. Brown, the Colonial Secretary, had gone to Fremantle, in delicate health. So the "balance of us," as the Americans say (that is, Roe and myself) put off the Council for another week, and I came home here to-night.

A number of natives from King George's Sound have been in Perth for some time past. They set out this day on their return, but first came to know if I had any commands, and I sent a letter by them. They are almost civilised. My poor old goat "Jenny," which I have so often spoken of, died on Monday last, of a surfeit of wheat. She was a valuable and affectionately familiar creature, and, as one of the original stock brought here by me from the Cape, was quite one of ourselves. I should be ashamed to confess how grieved I felt at her loss. The rains are so long delayed this year that sheep and lambs over the hills are suffering very much. The weather is warm also, and vegetation very backward. These phrases sound inconsistent to you, but everything is topsy-turvy here, as well as the seasons.

May 28th.—Finding that I had some spare time on hand, I started on Saturday morning on a short trip into the bush Certain land which I was entitled to occupy as a part of my original grant is still to be definitely fixed. I had it at a place called Lennard's Brook, 36 miles to the north of this. Then, being the only person having land there, I was told that it would be impossible to survey it for me or give me protection, and I was allowed to change it. I chose again in a place called Toodyay valley, when, behold, from the