Page:The State and Position of Western Australia.djvu/29

 Soon after the Sulphur’s arrival, at an early period of the settlement, her crew, with that of the Challenger frigate, were engaged in fishing; and on one occasion, they caught so vast a quantity of a species called the King fish, that the net they were using broke, and the fish were literally driven on shore. After filling three large boats with them, a considerable heap was left on the beach. Upwards of three hundred people were amply supplied on this occasion, including the civil and military establishments then on Garden Island; and also the crews of the above ships and the Parmelia transport. Close to Garden Island, is a bank on which the finest whiting are caught in great quantities; they are larger than those taken on the English coast, and equal to them in flavour. Mr. D. H. Macleod, late of the 63rd Regt., and Government Resident at King George’s Sound, informed the writer, that he was along with the crew of the colonial schooner Ellen, when they caught on the Five Fathom Bank, outside of that island, a place greatly frequented by the snapper—in less than two hours, and with half a dozen hooks and lines—fish of that description, to an extent exceeding five cwt. Some of them weighed from 20 to 40 lbs. each.

In the Swan River there is a great abundance of fish of the herring tribe, of a flatter description, and broader than those in the English seas. Some of these, along with the Snapper, were cured, and taken to Java by Mr. Sholl, the purser of the Sulphur, acting as the agent of the local government, and were pronounced by the Malays, at Sourabaya, to be well adapted for the Java market.

Erroneous impressions have been prevalent respecting the harbours of Western Australia; and these impressions, for a time, raised considerably the rate of insurance at Lloyd’s. Accurate information, however, on this head having now been had, the injurious effect has ceased. As an instance