because it is one upon which the success of the colony mainly depends.
The bar at the mouth of the river, and the flats in various parts of its
course, are a great drawback to our communications; but these evil will
no doubt be remedied in the course of time, and that without much
expense. There is a clear channel all the way up the river for vessels
of 500 tons, commencing about a mile and a half above Freemantle to
Perth; then there are a succession of flats until you pass the islands,
where the navigation continues clear for many miles up the river.

The prospects of the colony are every day improving, to the
satisfaction of all classes; and the great number of respectable
settlers, and their patience and perseverance in establishing
themselves, are the surest grounds for the ultimate prosperity of the
settlement. The only objections, as I can see, that can be urged with
any degree of plausibility against the success of the colony, are, that
the land at Perth and in the neighbourhood is not of that description
to induce the settlers to cultivate, and that all the good land being
now granted, there is no more on this side the mountains to satisfy the
demands of new settlers; but these objections are, I am happy to say,
about to be removed, as an ensign of the 63rd regiment (a Mr. Dale) has
lately returned from a tour of discovery into the interior, and has
brought intelligence, that to the eastward of the Swan River there is
a large and fertile tract of beautiful country, with a river passing
through it, which, from a subsequent visit by Mr. Erskine, a lieutenant
of the 63rd, is likely to prove of the greatest importance to the
colony. Those of the settlers who have not taken up their grants of land
mean to secure them here, and myself among the number, a grant having
been allowed me, at the rate of 3,200 acres. The governor is quite
delighted, and now considers the ultimate success of the colony to be
certain. He intends visiting the country, and tracing the course of the