command, and under him were Mr. Smythe (of the Surveyor-General's Department, who was expected to specially guide the party), John Gringer, and John Galway.
On 14th December, 1830, Captain Bannister and his companions left Fremantle. The Darling Ranges were crossed at a more southerly point than the routes taken over the hills by other explorers. The usual fine jarrah, then called mahogany, mounted the summits, or shaded the glens, and intensified the rugged appearance of the hills. Ironstone, gravel, and scrub generally lay upon the uplands, but in the quiet valleys and on the shaded slopes were good pasture lands. The eastern side of the range was reached on the evening of the 18th. From their encampment they could see a hilly, though lower, country stretched before them, and the leaders decided to take a south-east course in the hopes of entering the southern extremities of those extensive plains which Mr. Dale and others had reported on to the northward. They went forward, but though they travelled in that direction until the 23rd December, they did not enter the same fertile plains they had hoped for. There were tracts of excellent land containing good food for stock, yet not equal to what Dale stated to exist farther north. Captain Bannister, after closely examining this country, believed there would be found considerable available land to the west and east, whence the water-courses generally trailed. The mahogany timber was now interspersed with blue and red gums, which in their turn were superseded by white gums in the valleys, and by banksias and ti-trees in the swamps and low lands.
A south by east route was pursued from the 23rd December to the 5th January, amid delightful scenery. Their task was a difficult one, their exertions severe, their seclusion complete; but the nature of the country so pleased the explorers that they thought little of these things. Their way undulated over rich land, and the dull feeling of mind which mere flat country engenders was destroyed by gradually rising hills, crowned with granite, pudding-stone rocks, and bluestone. Broad flat lands and valleys, many miles in extent, moderately wooded and grassed, lay round them. Their expectations of finding good country were exceeded, for "a very great portion of this tract was land of the finest description, fit for the plough, sheep, or cattle;" and, continues Captain Bannister, "the beauty of the scenery near to, and distant from, the rivers which we crossed, is equal to any I have seen in the most cultivated timbered country in those parts of Europe which I have happened to pass through." Five rivers were passed in this march of eighty or ninety miles, and numerous small water-courses. Excursions were made in different directions, from points where they were compelled to bivouac for some days to rest the horses. Sufficient water was obtained almost throughout the whole route. Mahogany trees embellished the high and ragged lands, and among them were the white and red gums. The herbage was green; even then in the midst of summer, a circumstance probably due to rain after bush fires, evidences of the latter being plainly discernible. The white and the red gums crowned the moderately high hills, and nut trees, blue gum, and wattle were gathered near the rivers, while nearer still were the ti-tree and banksia. Some parts of the country possessed no more trees than were necessary for ornament.
It is, unfortunately, not possible to give the exact route taken by Bannister, as his report to the Surveyor-General mentions no names of places until King George's Sound was approached. The route certainly lay west of the old Albany road, and the present Great Southern Railway line in the earlier part of the journey, but later the party must have approached near to those highways. Mr. Smythe judged from his observations on the 5th January that the travellers were then east of King George's Sound, and it was deemed advisable to turn more to the west. Seeing elevated lands to the S.W. they proceeded to them, but upon ascending the highest peak they descried an uninteresting view. Thence they went south for four days, making only forty miles. They were now entered on mountainous country, containing a thick underwood, and though the way was picturesque enough, it demanded great labour to traverse, and gave no view of an outlet. Hidden as they were in these unwelcome thickets and among high hills, where no civilised man had been before, they naturally became exceedingly anxious. During the next thirty-six hours they accomplished over sixteen miles in a south-west direction, where they came upon large granite rocks. Climbing these to gather some conception of neighbouring country, they saw high mountains southwards, three of which were conical and of considerable altitude. One of them, possessing "two bare heads," Mr. Smythe reckoned lay north of King George's Sound. They therefore directed their steps towards it, and camped for the night upon the banks of a large river flowing south. Their position was now dispiriting, and when the twin-headed mountain was reached on 12th January, Captain Bannister quickly scaled the altitude to see if any satisfactory landmark could be found. He was disappointed. As far as vision could go was one vast forest, and twenty to thirty miles distant in the south and south-west by west were high lands. In the intermediate country were occasional open valleys winding to the eastward between high hills.
The provisions of the party were nearly expended, and it was anxiously determined to make for the southern hills, hoping that directly behind them was the southern main. Through the haze they imagined they could see sand hills bearing south-west by west, and towards them they went. All that day and the next they kept their faces turned to these imagined sand hills, but though they travelled seventeen miles, they could not find them. Now believing himself far from King George's Sound, Captain Bannister turned disconsolately to the south, for considering that his provisions would not nearly last out, he wished to reach the ocean, where his party might subsist on shell-fish gleaned from the rocks. To depend on birds or kangaroos for food was very uncertain. Before long all the provisions were gone, except for a little tobacco, and enough tea to last for twelve days.
The travellers toiled through rough country until the 16th January, when they made the coast. For two days, by walking all day long, they had travelled only seven or eight miles. Nor were they yet relieved from their difficulties. Mr. Smythe's observations proved unreliable, which, he asserted, was caused by his not having a watch, and by his instruments being out of order. He now reckoned the position of the party to be forty-three miles west of King George's Sound, but it proved to be greater distance, for they were near Cape Chatham, west of Nornor-up, nine miles. The double-peaked mountain was the Mount Mitchell of Dr. Wilson. Bannister agreed with Wilson as to the fertility of much of the neighbouring country. The blue gums were of large dimensions, one which Bannister measured giving, breast high, a 42 feet circumference, and rising, "straight as the barrel of a gun," to 140 or 150 feet before a branch was projected.
Thenceforward for nineteen days the party endured great privations. The provisions gave out some days ere the coast reached, and this disaster occasioned poignant sufferings. For the nineteen days they subsisted on shell-fish, sometimes in meagre quantities, sometimes, when the surf was moderate, in plenty. Walking by the coast all day long they carefully searched for this food, and their quest caused much delay. Travelling was so rough that
