"The VERY DRY STATE OF THE HUTT AT THIS SEASON seems to indicate that but little water flows into it at any time; and I am disposed to fancy, that the lagoon, or estuary, owes its formation to the breaking in of the sea over the low sand hills during the tempestuous gales of the winter months, more especially towards the north end of the inlet, where the sand ridges are lower than in any other part of the coast in that vicinity." Thus the luxuriant country of Captain Grey, like the water-pools seen in the mirage of the desert, when approached, vanishes from the view of the traveller. It is to be observed, that Captain Stokes and Lieutenant Helpman surveyed these districts in the early part of the summer season -- November and December -- when they were more likely to appear fertile than on the 5th and 7th April, quite at the end of that season, and just before the commencement of the winter rains. Since the above passages were written, I have read an account in the Perth journals of January, 1847, of the discovery of coal by the Messrs. Gregory, about forty miles east of Champion Bay. These gentlemen relate, that in journeying towards the coast, they passed through a tract of country capable of being settled. This may possibly be Captain Grey's luxuriant district; and yet the district which he describes was close upon the coast. It is also stated, that there is now ascertained to be a corner of Champion Bay in which small vessels may find a safe anchorage; and this is conjectured to be that Port Grey whose existence has been so long denied. But, although a few miles of country may be found in this neighbourhood capable of supporting a limited number of flocks and herds, it is certain that there is no such district here as would suffice for the purposes of a colony of the magnitude contemplated by the Western Australian Company. The advice, therefore, given them to change the site of the operations from Australind, or Leschenault, to Champion Bay, or Port Grey, was the most pernicious that could have been bestowed. But it may certainly be doubted whether the principles on which the settlement of Australind was founded were in themselves of a sound and permanent nature. They were those propounded originally by Mr. Edward Gibbon Wakefield, and applied with extraordinary success to the formation and to the circumstances of the colony of South Australia. The most prominent features which they present are, -- the concentration of population, and the high price of land.