We arrived at Swan River on the 31st, under circumstances which must forcibly illustrate to a landsman the precision with which a ship may be navigated.  We had not seen land for fifty-two days, and were steering through a dense fog, which confined the circle of our vision to within a very short distance round the ship.  Suddenly the vapour for a moment dispersed, and showed us, not more than a mile ahead, the shipping in Gage’s Road.

We found a vast improvement in the colony of Western Australia since our last visit, and again experienced the greatest hospitality from the colonists.  To the assiduous attentions of my much valued friend, the Surveyor-General, Lieutenant Roe, R.N., I in great measure ascribe my rapid recovery.  He gave me a painfully interesting account of an excursion he had made in search of the party left behind by Captain Grey during his exploring expedition in the neighbourhood of Sharks Bay, with the sufferings and disastrous termination of which the public have already been made acquainted in the vivid language of the last-mentioned officer.

LIEUTENANT ROE’S ACCOUNT OF THE RESCUE OF CAPTAIN GREY’S PARTY.

It was on one of those soft beautiful evenings, so common in Australia, that I received this narrative from my friend.  We had strolled from his cottage, at the western extremity of the town of Perth, and had just emerged from the patch of woodland, concealing it from the view of the Swan, which now lay at our feet.  About a mile below, the broad shadow of Mount Eliza, nearly extended across the river; and in the darkness thus made, the snow-white sails of a tiny pleasure-boat flitted to and fro.  Beyond lay the beautiful lake-like reach of the river, Melville Water, just ruffled by a breeze that came sweeping over its surface with all the delicious coolness of the sea.  The beauty of the scene did not divert me from the events of my friend’s story, serving rather to impress them the more vividly on my mind.  I remember well the animated and affecting manner in which he delivered his narrative, and how his hard features became lit up as he proceeded by an expression of honest pride, fully justified by the fact that he had on that occasion been the means of saving the lives of several of his fellow-creatures.  When he found them they were under a headland, which they had not sufficient strength left to ascend, nor were they able to round the sea face of it.  One of them, finding all hope of proceeding further at an end, went down on his knees and prayed to the almighty for assistance; and just as another had bitterly remarked on the uselessness of proffering such a request, Mr. Roe and his party, as if directed by the hand of Providence, appeared on the ridge above them.  It would be painful to describe minutely the condition to which these poor fellows had been reduced; it will be sufficient to state, that thirst had compelled them to resort to the most offensive substitute for pure and wholesome water.