Between the two heads which form the entrance into Swan River, there is, unfortunately, a bar, made by the continuity of the limestone ridge. Over this bar, the depth, at low water, is but six feet, and is therefore practicable only for boats or rafts. About a mile inside the heads, the water deepens; and then commences a succession of cliffs, or natural wharfs, with four, five, and six fathoms at their bases. The same depths are extended over a magnificent expanse of salt water, to which Captain Stirling has given the name of "Melville Water;" and which, in his opinion, wants only a good entrance to make it one of the finest harbours in the world, being seven or eight miles in length, by three or four in width, and having a depth of water from four to seven fathoms. This narrow entrance of the river, he thinks, might be made navigable by ships of burthen, without difficulty or great expense. When the town begins to rise, and substantial buildings are required, the blocks of stone procured by quarrying this entrance will go far towards paying the expense of excavation. Into this expansive sheet of water fall two rivers; one from the north-east, which is properly the Swan River; the other from the south-east, called Canning's River. Captain Stirling examined them both: the former to its source, the latter beyond the point where the water ceased to be brackish. They are both sufficiently convenient for boat navigation, even at the end of the dry season; and any obstruction might easily be removed to make them more so, by which the productions of an immense extent of country might be transported by water-carriage.