Page:The State and Position of Western Australia.djvu/28

 Brown; and a description of the natives of King George’s Sound. This last paper goes fully into all the details of the habits and character of these people, and is drawn up with great perspicuity by Scott Nind, Esq., who accompanied, as a medical officer, the first detachment from Sydney stationed there. A valuable work on the natural history of the colony may also be expected (should the delicate state of his health permit) from Mr. Collie, the colonial surgeon, already known for his able and scientific researches made during a voyage round the world in his Majesty’s ship Blossom, to which expedition he was attached as naturalist.

There is a plentiful supply of white fish on the coast, including the snapper, and many others not known in Europe. Some of them are well flavoured, and similar to the cod, haddock, &c. Fish have been taken in large quantities off Rottnest Island (outside Gage’s Roads), in Cockburn Sound, at the Murray River, and elsewhere. Some samples sent to foreign markets have brought good prices; and there is no doubt but that when capital and enterprise are employed in this speculation, it will prove a fruitful source of wealth to the colony—having such markets near as are afforded by Java, and the other Malay isles, the Mauritius, India, and China. As salt is found in the colony, and especially in Rottnest Island, the means for curing are at hand.

A whale fishery would also yield a rich return for the employment of capital and skill. There is, it is believed, no frequented coast where whales are not found in greater numbers. When at Port Leschenault, the writer was told by the officer commanding there, that be had counted fourteen in the bay at once. During a voyage of the Sulphur down the coast, three hundred are said to have been seen. Some of these fish were declared to be sperm, by men of the ship who had been whalers; but it is chiefly the black whale that frequents the coast.