Page:Journals of Several Expeditions Made in Western Australia.djvu/92

 which was apparently a richer district than that on the western side of the Avon. This prevailed for nearly three miles back from the banks, when on ascending a ridge, we arrived at a remarkable change in the aspect of the country; viz. large open downs or wolds, commencing about a mile and a half, and extending several miles to the north and south. They were of a sandy nature, and covered principally with short brushwood. Travelling over this it again became wooded, and continued so till we bivouaced on the banks of a stream running to the N.N.W., having effected eleven miles to the eastward of Mount Bakewell. The scenery on the eastern side, on the banks of the Avon, resembles the term so frequently used of a demesne or park. The country also seemed to exceed it in the fertility of the soil, which had, for three miles from the river, a most promising appearance; and although it often afterwards became sandy, it was frequently diversified by portions of good soil.

October 29th.—Leaving the stream on which we bivouaced, we pursued our course for two miles over grassy, undulating plains, the soil on which was a light sandy loam. On our right was an apparently fertile valley, beyond which were low hills, the trees on which were dispersed like a plantation. Travelling four miles further, over an unusually sandy district, we penetrated a forest more thickly wooded than ordinary, with a tree answering in some respects the stringy bark of New South Wales; when we arrived at a stream flowing northerly. Quitting this, we immediately afterwards came to open downs extending for many miles to the N. and S., and of a breadth, where we crossed, of two miles. Before reaching this, we had a beautiful chase on an open plain with a kangaroo, which