Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 24.djvu/539

Rh W E S W E S 509 History. Both the western and northern coasts of the colony are pretty accurately laid down on maps said to date from 1540 to 1550, where the western side of the continent terminates at Cape Leeuwen. The discovery of the coast may be attributed to Portuguese and Spanish navigators, who were in the seas northward of Australia as early as 1520. The next visitors, nearly a century later, were the Dutch. Edel explored northward in 1619, and De Witt in 1628. The &quot;Guide Zeepaard&quot; in 1627 sailed along the south coast for 1000 miles, the territory being named Nuyt s Land. Tasman made a survey of the north shore in 1644, but did not advance far on the western border. Dampier was off the north-west in 1688 and 1696, naming Sharks Bay. Van couver entered King George s Sound in 1791. The French, under D Entrecasteaux, were off Western Australia in 1792; and their commodore Baudin, of the &quot;Geographe&quot; and &quot;Naturaliste,&quot; in 1801 and 1802 made important discoveries along the western and north-western shores. Captain Flinders about the same time paid a visit to the Sound, and traced Nuyt s Land to beyond the South Australian boundary. Freycinet went thither in 1818. Captain King surveyed the northern waters between 1818 and 1822. The earliest settlement was made from Port Jackson, at the end of 1825. Owing to a fear that the French might occupy King George s Sound, Major Lockyer carried thither a party of convicts and soldiers, seventy-five in all, and took formal British possession, though Vancouver had previously done so. Yet the Dutch had long before declared New Holland, which then meant only the western portion of Australia, to be Dutch property. This convict establishment returned to Sydney in 1829. In 1827 Captain Stirling was sent to report upon the Swan river, and his narrative excited such interest in England as to lead to an actual free settle ment at the Swan river. Captain Freemantle, R.N., in 1827 took ollicial possession of the whole country. Stirling s account stimu lated the emigration ardour of Sir F. Vincent, and Messrs Peel, Macqueen, &c., who formed an association, securing from the British Government permission to occupy land in Western Australia pro portionate to the capital invested, and the number of emigrants they despatched thither. In this way Mr Peel had a grant of 250,000 acres, and Colonel Latour of 103,000. Captain (afterwards Sy- James) Stirling was appointed lieutenant-governor, arriving June 1, 1829. The people were scattered on large grants. The land was poor, and the forests heavy ; provisions were at famine prices ; and many left for Sydney or Hobart Town. The others struggled on, rinding a healthful climate, and a soil favouring fruits and vegetables, whilst their stock grazed in the more open but distant quarters. The overland journey of Eyre from Adelaide to King George s Sound in 1839-40, through a waterless waste, dis couraged settlers ; but Grey s overland walk in 1838 from Sharks Bay to Perth revealed fine rivers and good land in Victoria district, subsequently occupied by farmers, graziers, and miners. Com manders Wickham and Stokes about that time made discoveries on the northern coast. Roe was an active explorer, and Austin in 1854 investigated the country to the eastward. F. H. Gregory traced the Gascoigne in 1857, and made known superior land to the north-west about Nickol Bay four years later. Austin in 1864 saw a good future for the Glenelg district, previously described by Grey. A. Gregory was at the north-east in 1856, and J. Forrest in 1870 proved the way along the south coast to be no hopeless desert. Giles crossed from the east. Major Warburtou in 1873 had severe trials with his camels before reaching De Grey river from the east. The Messrs Forrest suffered much in another attempt to penetrate the eastern barren country. A. Forrest had a successful tour in 1877 through the Kimberley province; two years later he made the connexion between Kimberley and the north-west. The difficulties of the settlers had compelled them to seek help from the British treasury, in the olfer to accept convicts. These came in 1850 ; but transportation ceased in 1868, in consequence of loud protests from the other colonies. Seeking responsible government, the settlers were told in 1888 that, if this were granted for the southern part, the north would still be retained as a crown colony. The discoveries of lead and copper, and lately of gold, must increase the working community ; while the newly opened pastures have brought in a great accession of stockholders. Settlers are arriving from South Australia and other colonies, so that the prospects of Western Australia arc brightening. (J. BO.) WEST HAM, an eastern suburb of London, in the county of Essex, which gives its name to an extensive parish, urban sanitary district, and parliamentary borough stretching north and south from Wanstead and Leyton to the Thames, and east and west from Little Ilford and East Ham to the river Lea. West Ham proper is situated on the main road between Stratford and Plaistow, three- quarters of a mile south-east of the Stratford station on the Great Eastern Railway, but the original village is now completely absorbed in the new buildings which have sprung up around it. The church of All Saints has an Early English nave and a good Perpendicular tower, but the architecture of the remainder of the building is non descript and incongruous. Some mural paintings have within recent years been laid bare, and there are a number of old monuments. Among other public buildings are the West Ham, Stratford, and South Essex dispensary (1878), and the conference hall for public meetings. There are a considerable number of charities. West Ham park, 80 acres in extent, was opened 20th July 1874 at a cost of 25,000. A large public cemetery was consecrated in 1857, and there is a Jews cemetery. The northern main sewer of the metropolitan main drainage system traverses the parish, the chief pumping station being at Abbey Mills. In 1762 West Ham had 700 houses. Morant, in his History of Essex, 1768, describes it as the &quot;residence of considerable merchants, dealers, and industrious artists.&quot; Since then its character has completely changed, and it is now a busy industrial district, its prosperity being in a large degree traceable to the formation of the Victoria and Albert docks at Plaistow. It possesses large chemical works, match works, candle factories, manure works, flour- mills, cocoa-nut fibre factories, patent leather cloth fac tories, smelting works, and copper works. The population of the parish, urban sanitary district, and parliamentary borough (area about 5390 acres) in 1871 was 62,919, and in 1881 it was 128,953. At the time of the Conquest West Ham belonged to Alestau and Leured, two freemen, and at Domesday to Ralph Gernon and Ralph Peverel. West Ham village was included in the part which descended to the Geruons, who took the name of Mont- fichet. It received the grant of a market and annual fair in 1253, but these have not been kept for many years. The lord ship was given to the abbey of Stratford, and, passing to the crown at the dissolution, it formed part of the dowry of Catherine of Portugal, and was therefore called the Queen s Manor. In 1885 the urban sanitary district was erected into a parliamentary borough, returning two members for the Northern and Southern Divisions respectively. WEST HOUGHTON, a township of Lancashire, Eng land, on the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, 5 miles west-south-west of Bolton, 15 north-west of Manchester, and 5 east-north-east of Wigan. The church of St Bar tholomew was rebuilt in 1870 in the Gothic style at a cost of 6000. There are coal-mines in the neighbour hood, and the town possesses a silk factory, print-works, and cotton-mills. The population of the urban sanitary district (area 4341 acres) in 1871 was 6609 and in 1881 it was 9197. West Houghton before the time of Richard II. was a manor belonging to the abbey of Cockersand. It was confiscated at the Reformation, and since then has been vested in the crown. It is now held by the representatives of the late Colonel Wilbraham. The army of Prince Rupert assembled on West Houghton moor before the attack on Bolton. WEST INDIES. This important archipelago received piatesX. the name of the West Indies from Columbus, who hoped XI. that, through the islands, he had found a new route to India. It is also sometimes known as the Antilles (a name, however, more properly applied to a part than to the whole), as Columbus, on his arrival here, Avas supposed to have reached Antilla, a fabled country, said- to lie far to the westward of the Azores, which found a vague and uncertain place on the maps and charts of many geo graphers before that time. Columbus first landed on St Salvador, or Watling Island, named by the natives Guanahani, and several voyages to this new land were made in rapid succession by the great discoverer, resulting in the finding of most of the larger islands, and a more intimate knowledge of those already known. The import ance of its latest possession was at once recognized by the court of Spain, and, as a first move towards turning the