Troubles had to be surmounted at an early period. Not many months had elapsed when an alarm of fire was given at a late hour one evening, during my absence at Perth, and the store, containing from twenty to thirty tons of provisions, luggage, furniture, &c., was in a blaze. As the roof was of thatch and the building contained some gunpowder, it was dangerous to attempt saving anything—all was destroyed. The dwelling was within thirty feet of it, but the wind blew from it, and a providential shower of rain then falling saved that building. The origin of the fire was not discovered, but a discontented servant was suspected. His passage from England had been provided, and he was under a written engagement, at moderate wages, to serve for three years; this he endeavoured to break without repaying his passage-money. However, he was discharged, but was afterwards convicted, in another service, on a felonious charge and transported. There were some very fine alluvial flats, on the banks of the Swan, on which no live stock had been depastured. In conjunction with another gentleman I arranged, during the following season, to mow the land for hay, at that time worth £14 per ton. Three stacks, of fifty tons each, were made; but the aborigines, not having seen anything of the sort before, were desirous of witnessing the effect of a large fire, and stuck firebrands into them—which made short work. They were all destroyed. The Governor, Sir James Stirling, undertook to lead an exploring party to examine the country between Perth and King George’s Sound, which was then unknown. I and some other gentlemen entitled to select land accompanied him, also some surveyors. A couple of drays drawn by oxen, and loaded with provisions and some surveying instruments, accompanied the party. The character of the country was very variable. After a few days’ travelling, the cattle fed on some poisonous plants and several of them died, at our camping place, during the night. One of the drays, some provisions and instruments, were necessarily abandoned there. Shortly afterwards, we struck on a river, then named the Williams, situated in a fine and apparently extensive district. Some of the party proceeded up the valley about twenty miles the following day, and camped for the night. I and another gentleman, however, strolled a couple of miles from the camp, in a southerly direction, and returning northerly, we felt satisfied that the river would bring us up and that we could not miss the camp, even at night. The bed of the river at that time, however, was a succession of pools, and the long intervals between them were thickly grassed. We thus crossed the river without knowing it, after dusk, over one of those intervals, and lost ourselves. Thinking there might be some extraordinary bend of the river, we walked on until midnight, and then lay down to rest. There was no water and nothing eatable except a morsel of cheese the size of a walnut, which we divided.