Page:Journals of Several Expeditions Made in Western Australia.djvu/195

 long the side of the range. The ascent and descent of the gorge is by no means abrupt, the slope on the southern side not being too great for the purposes of agriculture.

On the 27th, we came upon the road which has been commenced towards Swan River, about ten miles from the settlement, where we arrived at one o'clock p.m.

In taking a retrospective view of our proceedings, and in describing the general appearance of the country, the nature of its soil, as well as of the different specimens collected, it will be sufficient to mention, with respect to the first—viz. the appearance of the country, that from King George's Sound and from thence to the Koikyennuruff Mountains, and the very distant land seen to the northward and eastward of them, is one vast plain, covered for twenty miles from the settlement by a dense forest of mahoganies, banksias, &c.; from this to as far as we penetrated, the country is open, and almost destitute of trees of any magnitude.

These districts are watered by the Kalgan and King-rivers, the numerous tributaries of the latter supplying an abundance of fresh water, but the former, where it was seen by us, was a series of brackish ponds. Several salt marshes were also observed in the neighbourhood of Toolbrunup. The relative positions in which the best land was seen, I shall describe as follows:

The first that was met with was in descending the north-eastern side, and along the base of Porrongurup; the next was on the banks of the Kalgan; and the third, which was exceedingly rich, commenced on the southern side of the chasm of