along the coast from Gantheaume Bay to Swan River, in 1839, Captain
Stokes, who landed from the Beagle subsequently and ascended Wizard Peak
about twelve miles inland, had distinctly negatived the existence of any
country capable of occupation, though, as an illustration of the
difficulty of ascertaining the real capabilities of country by partial
and hurried inspection, it may be observed that this has since become one
of the most prosperous districts of Western Australia in regard to its
pastoral, agricultural, and mining industries.

For the purpose of making this examination of the country, Messrs. A.C.
Gregory, H.C. Gregory, and Lieutenant Irby, taking three horses and three
days' provisions, left Champion Bay on the 20th December, the following
being a copy of the journal:--

20th December, 1846.

At 6.20 a.m. left the bivouac and followed the shore of Champion Bay
about a mile northerly; then steered 87 degrees over a scrubby country;
at 7.20 crossed the Chapman River; and at 8.0, being a quarter of a mile
north from Mount Fairfax, altered the course to 66 degrees, the country
being thinly covered with wattle scrub and some grass; at 8.45 crossed a
large branch of the Chapman with several small pools of water in the bed;
the country beyond was more scrubby and the soil gravelly; at 9.0 changed
the course to 18 degrees, and at 9.20 again crossed the Chapman River
just below a pool of apparently permanent water; at 9.50 crossed a
granite ridge, beyond which the country improved, with many large patches
of grass to the eastward; at 10.20 ascended a high flat-topped hill of
red sandstone resting on granite, which proved to be the eastern point of
Moresby's Flat-topped Range. From this hill Mount Fairfax and Wizard Hill
were visible to the east; grassy hills rose gradually from the Chapman