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
river, in a few days; and it is my wish to accompany him, if possible,
that I may select my own grant.
The spirit of detraction to which the writer alludes in the early part
of his letter is thus noticed in the _Cabinet Cyclopaedia_, vol. iii.
of Maritime and Inland Discovery: "The difficulties and embarrassments
which the settlers at the Swan River have been obliged to endure, have
been industriously exaggerated by the colonial press; the strong desire
which exists in New South Wales to attract emigrants to that country
being naturally allied with a disposition to disparage every other
settlement.
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