of Western Australia by Mr. Arrowsmith, "from the
surveys of Captain Grey," whose name the port bore; and the united
authorities of this talented explorer, and this celebrated geographer,
would have removed all doubt from my mind as to the correctness of the
report to which I have alluded, even if the alleged discovery had not
taken place on a portion of the coast unvisited by Captain King or
myself. In the colony, however, very different opinions were held; and it
was confidently maintained that Port Grey, although placed, by accident
or otherwise, twelve miles to the southward, was no other than the bay we
had previously visited, called by us Champion Bay. It is true I could
trace a resemblance between their southern parts; but they differed so
widely in their northern--Port Grey being represented in the chart, and
printed description, to be perfectly safe, and sheltered in that quarter
by a point and a reef--that I saw no grounds for giving credence to the
opinion industriously circulated at Swan River, that the reef and point,
or perhaps the whole port, had been fabricated by the land-jobbers at
home. Such an opinion, however, was quite a disinterested one on their
part; as an extension of the colony northwards, and the establishment of
a settlement near Moresby's Flat-topped Range, would have led to a result
much desired by them, the occupancy, namely, of the intervening country.
It was in the neighbourhood of the harbour, the existence or identity of
which was thus called in question, that Captain Grey had reported to have
seen a fertile district; and a company had actually arrived from England
for the purpose of forming a settlement there. Mr. Clifton, the Chief
Commissioner, however, on hearing the opinion prevalent in the colony,
did not think proper to risk the lives of the people under his charge, by
conveying them to a port that might be fabulous, and to a country the
fertility of which was absolutely denied; and the destination of the new
settlement was, accordingly, provisionally changed to the shores of the
Leschenault Inlet, which held out a prospect of solid, if not brilliant,
success, and possessed advantages, which, if not dazzling, were at least
exempt from the suspicion of being visionary.

Anxious to have further information on this subject through a personal
interview with Mr. Clifton, I accompanied His Excellency Governor Hutt
and the Surveyor General on a tour in the direction of the new
settlem