Page:The State and Position of Western Australia.djvu/77

 cross the hills in a few days, and every exertion is making to procure sheep, it being evidently the best speculation in this country.” Sir James goes on to say, that he is straining every nerve to promote investments of money in sheep, in consequence of the extraordinary profit which sheep-farming there is expected to yield. Some of the colonists, actuated by similar expectations, have, as recent accounts state, formed themselves into a company for the purchase of sheep. Their proposal is to raise a fund by 100 l. shares, with a view to the profit arising from fine wool. They anticipate that much expense will be saved by keeping combined flocks, in preference to having smaller ones, each under a distinct shepherd. The plan will also furnish an opportunity to persons who live in the towns, and are not immediately engaged in farming pursuits, to participate in such speculations. Among the most active members of this association is Mr. Commissary Lewis, who is anxious to encourage any scheme calculated to promote the welfare of the settlement. He is possessed of a considerable grant in the York district, and has, for some time, been a sheep proprietor.

The writer will now briefly advert to the out-stations on the coast. Near the mouth of the estuary of the Murray River, forty miles south of Fremantle, are settled, Mr. Peel, Captain Byrne (late of the Rifle brigade), and Mr. Hall. There are also other grants on which the proprietors are not resident, principally owing to the feeling of insecurity that has existed, from the hostile character of the Murray tribe. Into this estuary, besides the Murray River, properly so called, two smaller streams empty themselves. The estuary varies from two to five miles in breadth, and its length from north to south is about sixteen. The interior in this