Page:The State and Position of Western Australia.djvu/66

 articles were produced the last year—the average weight of wheat from 62 lbs. to 65 lbs. the bushel. * * * * * * As it respects the colony at large, there is little doubt but it will succeed, and well, if it receive that encouragement and support which all colonies need in their infancy. We have already seen the wilderness become a fruitful field, bending beneath the gentle breeze, and are looking forward to the time when every diligent man shall be surrounded with peace and plenty.” At the date of this letter, Mr. Hardy purchased from the Governor, then about to return to England, some cows of Colonel Arbuthnot’s famous short-horned breed. For these he gave forty pounds a piece, and, as the author was told, paid for them out of the produce of the preceding harvest.

At Guildford the town-grants amount to from two to four acres each. Here are some industrious small farmers (principally brought out by Mr. Peel). As soon as these men had built cottages and performed the location duties on their first grants, others were assigned them by the Government. This village has a very interesting appearance, and covers a considerable space of ground. Each cottage is surrounded by its garden, and has fields neatly fenced contiguous.

The Helena river, flowing from the east, joins the Swan at Guildford. It takes its rise in an elevated plain, within the Darling range, and pursues a course of from fifty to sixty miles through a valley which is in many parts rocky, and singularly beautiful and romantic. As this river approaches the Swan, its banks present some of the richest alluvial soil hitherto found in the country. Here Sir James Stirling has a farm, extending across from one river to the other, and which has been highly improved. Woodbridge, his country residence, is a cottage ornée, beautifully placed on a high bank, which overhangs the Swan, and commanding a view of two fine reaches of the river. On the opposite bank is the residence of Mr. Walcot, whose farm, garden,