Page:Journals of Several Expeditions Made in Western Australia.djvu/130

 a mere flat country engenders in many. When I consider that the rivers, five of which we crossed, not to mention the numerous water courses, some of which still had water in pools in them, traversed the country from E. to W., and that our course being nearly N. and S. we cut them; I cannot but think that the colony must possess a body of fertile land, of no inconsiderable magnitude, in this part of its territory. I am the more sanguine in this view, from the fact of our having taken excursions from our bivouac of the 24th of December (when we were detained several days by the state of our horses) for several miles in every direction, and each night we returned exceedingly gratified. It may not, perhaps, be uninteresting to mention, that on the first of June we entered a country in which grows a tree, about as large as an English plum tree, not unlike it in its size, in its leaf and branches, but its stem resembles more that of the pear tree when old; it bears a nut almost round, having a strong shell, and as large as a pigeon's egg, with small holes in it similar to the almond, and an out covering, which it throws off apparently when ripe. The kernel we found nutritious, possessing a glutinous property, and very easy of digestion. I am afraid to say more, lest disappointment should be felt by any individual whose fortune may lead him to this remote part of the world; but unquestionably, from the quantity of good land, the excellence of the water, which I have no doubt, when the country becomes known, might be obtained, renders it not undeserving of the closest examination. The trees are the mahogany on the higher and rugged lands, but among them the white and red gum. I should remark, that in this district it most frequently happens that under them