Page:The State and Position of Western Australia.djvu/62

, and extending along the shore of a somewhat circular bay.

In going by land from Fremantle to Perth, the traveller follows the road to Preston Point, which is a mile and a half higher up on the estuary; where he finds a horse-ferry to take him across to the opposite bank, from whence there is a road leading directly to Perth. This road is through a sandy tract, generally loose, and mostly an open forest. Midway there is a good hotel, built of stone, and two stories high.

The town of Perth is much more scattered than that of Fremantle, and is partially concealed by some fine trees which have been left standing. The main street extends about a mile along a ridge which runs parallel with the water’s edge. Most of the houses are of wood, but some good ones of brick have been erected; and as bricks are made on the spot, and stone can be brought by barges from Mount Eliza, it is not likely that any more wooden houses will be built. It may be here well to caution emigrants against bringing out wooden houses from England. They are very uncomfortable dwellings in such a climate, for not only are they liable to warp and shrink, and thus to admit too freely the external air; but, if constructed with ever such well-seasoned materials, they are rarely a sufficient protection from heat and cold. In a wooden house with a thatched roof, situated at Fremantle, Fahrenheit’s thermometer stood 16° higher in the hot season than it did in a stone house close by. The appearance of the town of Perth is considerably enhanced by the officers’ barracks, and those of the private soldiers; the other public buildings are, the jail, and an extensive commissariat store. In this town are several comfortable inns. One of them is kept by George Hodges, a discharged soldier of the 63rd regiment. This settler owes his prosperity in the colony chiefly to the prudence