I have already spoken of the palms which grow on the bank of the Fortescue; they are very handsome and grow to the height of forty feet, but not having brought in any specimens, they have not yet been identified as to their variety.

Tobacco does not grow so luxuriantly here as on the Lyons River, but the natives collect it, and after preparation, chew it; but we did not on any occasion observe them to smoke.

Many beautiful flowers were also collected, which will be forwarded to some of the most eminent botanists, to be described and classified.

It now only remains for me to give an opinion on the capabilities of the country for colonisation.  It would be almost impossible to particularise the positions or define the limits of country adapted for grazing purposes beyond the reference already made to them.  The total amount of land available for this purpose within the limit of our route I should estimate at not less than two or three millions of acres, and of this I may safely say 200,000 are suitable for agricultural purposes, the greater portion of which lies on the two flanks of the Hamersley Range, on the banks of the DeGrey and its tributaries, and on the Lower Sherlock.

Of the fitness of this district for the growth of wool, which, on account of its being an intertropical country, it is generally supposed it would be unsuitable, I would remark that its elevation above the sea appears likely to obviate the objection, and render it probable that sheep may not degenerate in the same way they are found to do in other tropical countries; at any rate, flocks are now being pushed over on to the same latitude in Queensland, and we do not hear of the wool-grower complaining that such is the case there.

As to its fitness for the growth of cereals, it is quite possible that wheat and barley may not come to the same degree of perfection they do in the more temperate latitudes of Australia, but there is no reason to doubt its capability of growing sufficient grain for the support of a numerous population.

What it appears more highly qualified for than anything else is the growth of cotton—­a question which at the present juncture cannot be lost sight of.  From my personal observation of the cultivation of this plant in Egypt, and the attention I have recently paid to this subject while in Europe, I feel confident that a very considerable portion of the arable lands on the DeGrey and Sherlock are precisely the soils adapted for the production of this valuable commodity.  As, however, I purpose to make this the subject of a more lengthy paper at a future period, I will not now venture to enlarge upon it.

As the number and disposition of the aborigines is likely to have some effect on the first settlement of a district, I would give it as my opinion that these people will not prove particularly troublesome to the settlers, if properly and fairly treated.  They are not numerous, and appear very willing to take employ under Europeans, and will no doubt soon be made as useful as in the other districts.  In stature they rather exceed the usual standard, some of them measuring two or three inches over six feet.