Part 11 (1/2)

Following a south-south-east course, at sixover several rees 59 minutes 32 seconds, we crossed another strea a junction with the last at some miles distant Towards sundoe came upon a recently inundated plain, and a rassy channel thirty yards wide, which had barely ceased running, the soil for so a fair supply of pasture This channel we afterward found to be only one of several which formed the main branch of the Gascoyne The observed latitude was 25 degrees 6 minutes 30 seconds, and elevation 1,740 feet above the sea

8th June

A mile farther we came upon the main channel of the river, with a wide shallow bed, dohich a srassed, and the flooded-gu for more than a mile back frorassy as far as the eye could reach; our ti any further exa tract A party of twenty or thirty natives were enca upon the roots of the convolvulus, which grows in the vicinity in great abundance

For fifteen miles to the south-east it continued a level plain of red loarassed and covered with an open wood of acacia; the next eight e of e dry strearees 24 rass on its banks

9th June

Ten ranite country, we struck the head of a watercourse, which, after winding about for sixteen miles, ran close to the western foot of Mount Gould, where we enca froenerally very stony until we came within a fewour course direct for Mount Hale, the pasture rapidly i for in from the eastward From the appearance of the river at this point, it is probable that it takes its rise nearly another 100 miles farther to the north-east The next thirteen e cattle pasture, extending for several ht and left; open flats of atriplex and sa at intervals

11th June

The river soon divided into several channels, shedding its waters over a fine alluvial flat, of considerable extent, yielding a rich sward of grass, under flooded-gurowth A little after noon we caht near the north-west bend of the Murchison

DOWN THE MURCHISON

12th to 22nd June

Was occupied in descending the river to the Geraldine Mine, cutting off several bends of the river, andsuch additions to our sketch of the outward route as circumstances would admit

RETURN TO PERTH

23rd June

We all arrived safe at the hospitable residence of Mr W Burges, on the Irwin; the following day being occupied inup the accounts connected with the expedition, which, including the whole of the cash expenditure, did not exceed 40 pounds, which sum had already been subscribed by a few settlers interested in the undertaking

Quitting the Irwin on the 1st of July, and proceeding by way of Dandaragan and Toodyay, I arrived, with Mr Roe and chainer Fairburn, in Perth on the 10th instant, having accomplished a journey of nearly 2000report, I find it necessary to add a few observations on subjects that could not well be introduced into the body of the narrative

GEOLOGY OF COUNTRY

In the first place, viewing the geographical and geological features in combination, the tract of country contained within the 114th and 118th parallels of longitude, and the 24th and 27th degrees of south latitude, e of which has an elevation of about 1700 feet above the level of the sea Co from the coast, the first 100 miles is almost exclusively of tertiary sandstone formation, which the process of denudation has, in many instances, converted into either stony or sandy tracts, rarely fertile, except when subject to the influence of frequent inundation This region seldoes, which are often found towards the eastern lienerally exceed 500 or 600 feet in altitude, and are only those portions of country that have not as yet yielded to the waste of tiher lands more to the eastward, rapidly abrade, and in their onward course remove the soft and porous sandstone from their bases

In the deeper valleys, towards the eastern edge of these sandstones thin beds of oolitic li nuypsum and clayey shales, with other indications of the probable existence of coal in the vicinity; following the series appears a co an alives place to granite and gneiss, frequently broken up by the upheaval of whinstone and porphyritic trap hills, having an elevation of from 100 to 500 feet above the plain

As we proceeded eastward, the eruptive rocks became more nuated jasper, frequently foreneral level of the plain, are occasionally found thin beds of ancient lava

The rivers, unlike most others in Western Australia, have nearly an even fall throughout their entire length, ae to six feet per mile; this, in a country subject to the sudden fall of alives rise to the destructive inundations already described

CLIMATE

Of the cli all other difficulties to have been overcome, it would be very hazardous to risk flocks and herds beyond the head of the Murchison until the country has again been visited at a different period of the year, as it is probably that it has as yet only been seen under the most favourable conditions