Page:Journals of Several Expeditions Made in Western Australia.djvu/17

 homes being less happy now meditate a participation in those blessings, at no very distant period.

The authentic narratives here collected into a volume, contain a simple and unaffected, clear and intelligible account of many extensive and fertile districts explored, under the sanction and protection of the local government, during the four last years. Without pretending to scientific accuracy, the reader will find that the most material objects of enquiry have been anticipated and satisfactorily answered; and, duly considering the difficulties and privations under which such journeys of discovery are necessarily performed, will acknowledge, that information more extensive and exact, has been thus supplied, than even under circumstances of less inconvenience could have been expected. Every exploring party, each individual, seems to have imbibed that right feeling and anxious spirit of investigation, possessed by their very popular Governor, and to have undertaken their meritorious tasks from a two-fold object—the public service and the personal approbation of the head of the settlement.

The Journals extend their information over a vast field of discovery, reaching from King George's Sound in the S.E., to the district of Northam near the Avon, to the N.E. of Perth; including minute