turesque slope on the right bank of the river, thirteen miles
from its mouth. The distant range of the Darling mountains supplies a
splendid background to the picture, and the refreshing seabreeze which
curls the surface of Melville water every afternoon, adds to the health,
no less than comfort, of the inhabitants. The former inconvenience,
caused by the shoal approach, and which rendered landing at low-water a
most uncomfortable operation, has now been remedied by the construction
of a jetty.

Like all the Australian rivers with which we are yet acquainted, the Swan
is subject to sudden and tremendous floods, which inundate the corn lands
in its vicinity, and sweep away all opposing obstacles with irresistible
impetuosity.

NARROW ESCAPE OF THE FIRST SETTLERS.

The first settlers had a most providential escape from a calamity of this
kind: they had originally selected for the site of their new city, a
low-lying piece of land, which, during the first winter after their
arrival, was visited with one of these strange and unexplained invasions
from the swelling stream: had the deluge been delayed for another year,
these luckless inhabitants of a new world would have shared the fate of
those to whom Noah preached in vain; but, warned in time, they chose some
safer spot, from whence, in future, they and their descendants may safely
contemplate the awful grandeur of similar occurrences, and thankfully
profit by the fertility and abundance which succeed to such wholesale
irrigation. During this, our first visit, I had no opportunity of
penetrating into the country further than the Darling range: in
journeying thither, we passed through Guildford, a township on the banks
of the Swan, about seven miles north-east from Perth, and four from the
foot of the mountains. It stands upon a high part of the alluvial flat
fringing the river, and which extends from half to one mile from it on
either side. The rich quality of the soil may be imagined from the fact,
that, in 1843, after thirteen years of successive cropping, it produced a
more abundant harvest than it had done at first, without any artificial
aid from manures.

SINGULAR FLIGHT OF STRANGE BIRDS.

A singular flight of strange birds, was noticed at Guildford about the
year 1833, during the time when the corn was green: they arrived in an
innumerable host, and were so tame as to be easily taken by hand. In
general appearance they resembled the land-rail, but were larger, a