70
and more sandy soil than we had lately met with, when we arrived at a rivulet running towards the main branch; leaving this, we ascended the hills on the eastern side, and again came to good soil and grass, which appeared to be abundant here; after making a few observations on the surrounding country, we descended to the Avon, and continued along its banks, which presented generally a N. by W. direction for five miles, when we pitched our tent, and as we had arrived at the part we wished to examine, Messrs. Clarkson, Hardy, and Camfield, proceeded to the opposite or eastern side, whilst Mr. W. Stirling and myself proceeded to ascend a hill behind our encampment, one side of which, towards the east, we found bare and sandy, whilst on the summit, and apparently to some extent beyond it, we met with fertile soil: in the afternoon the party returned completely drenched with rain: they went about three miles down the right bank, and at the distance of a mile and a half inland, the soil was of good quality, and the grass plentiful. The stream occasionally expanded itself in the course of this day's journey, as it had done yesterday, to a breadth of fifty yards. We started this morning due W. with the intention of making the western base of Darling's Range, behind Lieutenant Bull's house on the Canning River, and passed over an extent of nearly five miles of beautifully fertile country, the grass on which was growing most luxuriantly on a rich soil, and was well adapted for agricultural and grazing purposes; in fact, in the opinion of Mr. Hardy, two acres of the grass lands in this district were capable of supporting three sheep per annum. As soon as we came to Darling's range, an unfavourable change took place in the soil. The range, at this point, was easy of
