90
On Wednesday mornings the brig quitted her anchorage, and proceeded to examine the coasts of the bay to the eastward. Having reached the "Black Point" of Flinders on the evening of that day, her course was directed, on her return, to Gage's Roads, wherein we arrived on the 10th instant.
The result issuing out of this expedition may be classed under two heads. First, the knowledge which has been acquired of the district visited: and, secondly, the establishment in it of a small but efficient body of settlers, with the fairest prospect of their success. The portion of the southern coast seen during this excursion, taken in connection with knowledge already possessed, leads to the belief, that there are three distinct ranges of primitive mountains traversing the territory of Western Australia, from north to south. The highest and easternmost of these has its southern termination near to King George's Sound. The second terminates at Cape Chatham, and is that of which General Darling's Range, behind Cockburn Sound, is a portion. Cape Leeuwin is the termination of the third range. This seems to be inferior in extent, as well as in altitude, to the two other ranges, as it disappears at Cape Naturaliste, and is not again seen except in "Moresley's flat-topped Range," 300 miles to the north on the same meridian. On these ranges, and in their intervening valleys, the soil varies according to the position and altitude. On the higher hills and mountains, the surface is rugged and stony in the regions intermediate between their summits and their bases; the soil is excellent: but in the principal valleys and lower grounds, where the sand-stone formation prevails, it is of a very inferior description, except where the deposit
