beautiful sight, to watch the sun rise without a cloud from out of
the depths of that dark forest, rapidly dispersing the cold gray
gloom, and giving life, as it seemed, to the sparkling waves, which
just before had been unconsciously heaved by some internal power, and
suffered to fall back helplessly into their graves.

How differently now they looked, dancing joyously forward towards the
shore! And the sun, that seems to bring happiness to inanimate
things, brought hope and confidence back to the hearts of those who
watched him rise.

Flights of sea-birds of the cormorant tribe, but generally known as
Shags, were directing their course landward from the rocky islands on
which they had roosted during the night. What long files they form!
-- the solitary leader winging his rapid and undeviating way just
above the level of the waves, whilst his followers, keeping their
regular distances, blindly pursue the course he takes. See! he
enters the mouth of the river; some distant object to his practised
eye betokens danger, and though still maintaining his onward course,
he inclines upwards into the air, and the whole line, as though
actuated by the same impulse, follow his flight. And now they
descend again within a few feet of the river's surface, and now are
lost behind projecting rocks. All day long they fish in the retired
bays and sheltered nooks of the river, happy in the midst of plenty.

The river Swan issues forth into the sea over a bar of rocks,
affording only a dangerous passage for boats, or vessels drawing from
four to five feet water. Upon the left bank of the river is the town
of Fremantle. The most prominent object from the sea is a circular
building of white limestone, placed on the summit of a black rock at