e northward, they soon
came to the head of a watercourse flowing northwards. They followed the
new creek, and on the 6th of May came to a river joining it from the
eastward, which at last proved to be the Gascoyne.

Gregory kept down the south bank of the Gascoyne, and on the 12th of May
passed a large tributary coming from the north, which he named the Lyons.
On the 17th they ascended a sandy ridge about sixty feet in height, and
had a view of Shark's Bay.

He returned along the north bank of the river, and having reached the
Lyons, followed that river up. On the 3rd of June he ascended the highest
mountain yet discovered in Western Australia, which he named Mount
Augustus, after his brother. Gregory gives the elevation at 3,480 feet,
but Mount Bruce in the Hammersley Range, to the north of it, has since
been found to be higher.* From the summit, however, he had an extensive
view, and was enabled to sketch in the courses of the various rivers for
over twenty miles.

*[Footnote.] 3,800 feet.

As they had now been out 51 days, and their supply of provisions was
approaching the end, the party turned back at Mount Augustus, and struck
southwards. On the 8th the Gascoyne was re-crossed at a place where its
course lay through flats and ana-branches. On the 10th of June they again
came to the Murchison, and followed it down to the Geraldine mine, and
finally reached Perth on the 10th of July. This expedition, so fruitful
in its results to the pastoral welfare of the colony, cost the settlers
only their contributions in horses and rations, and a cash expenditure of
forty pounds.

The discovery of so much fresh available country on the Gascoyne River,
with the prospect of a new base for exploration in the tropical regions
beyond, attracted the attention of English capitalists. The American
civil war had so depressed the cotton trade that those interested in
cotton manufacture were seeking for fresh fields in which to establish
the growth of the plant. Frank Gregory was then in London, and advantage
was taken of his presence to urge upon the Home Government and the Royal
Geographical Society the desirability of fitting out an expedition to
proceed direct to the north-west coast of Australia, accompanied by a
large body of Asiatic labourers, and all the necessary appliances for the
establishment of a colony.

Fortunately this rash and ill-considered scheme was greatly modified
under wise advice. Roe, the Surveyor-General o