Page:The State and Position of Western Australia.djvu/18

 and between the ranges, where the country is from 500 to 1000 feet above sea level, the soil is mostly of the red marl formation, and generally good, bearing fine forests of native mahogany and other timber. There is feed for sheep on the hills next the coast district, and rich pasture of wild vetch and other herbage for cattle in the ravines. Some land between the ranges seems, but for the lofty timber it bears, wholly sterile: so forbidding is its aspect, from the ironstone with which it abounds, that it resembles districts the author has seen in Sicily, that were overspread with cinders from Mount Etna.

The banks of the rivers, especially of the Swan, present scenery much admired by all who have visited the country. In some parts both borders exhibit extensive meadows, ornamented with trees and flowering shrubs. Elsewhere, high precipitous banks look down on grassy plains on the opposite side. These banks are enamelled with a profusion of the amaranthine tribe of plants (the everlasting flower), and crowned with noble mahogany and other lofty trees.

The most valuable tracts of land are in the interior, to the east of the Darling Range of mountains; and similar tracts approach to within twenty-five miles of the coast, in the south-east parts of the colony, between Cape Leeuwin and King George’s Sound. The best land of these tracts is not confined to the vicinity of lakes, rivers, or hills, as is mostly the case on the west side of the mountains, where the principal body of the settlers are at present located.

The only district occupied beyond the Darling Range is called York, and is from fifty to sixty miles from the sea coast. The same name has been given to the projected chief town, the site of which is laid out on the river Avon. This river, flowing from the south, has a north-westerly direction in passing York, and has been lately found to wind through one of the vallies of the Darling Range, and to be