still covered in many places with low forest and thick masses of brushwood. The stream, breaking upon the river bar, throws up a number of rapid eddies, which catch the blazing southern sun and sparkle like diamonds in its light. Near the sea-jetty the river is separated from the shore by a fine promontory jutting out boldly into deep water, and at its base are two or three little bays, floored with the whitest sand, and backed by fine weather-worn cliffs of some thirty feet in height. On this headland stands the inner lighthouse, below which is a landing quay, built for the whale fishery, and a curious tunnel, made through the neck of the promontory to give access from the quay to the shore near the jetty.
Looking seaward, the eye passes over the pier and the vessels lying in the inner anchorage, to rest at last on the winter roadstead and the distant shores of Garden Island and Rottnest. The remainder of the town is clustered around the base of the hill, and bears somewhat of that untidy, unfinished look inseparable from half-completed streets and unpaved footpaths. There are no continuous rows of shops, but all the minor stores, and the open fruit and fish stalls, are scattered about in all directions, and do not make nearly as good a show as if collected into a regular compact street. This gives the town a bare and deserted appearance, as if no business were being transacted, which is really not the case, although the trade certainly is not a very lively one.
We found, on inquiry, that the distance from Fremantle to Perth was about fourteen miles by the river, and two or three less by land, but that the route by
