For some years Geographe Bay continued to justify John Bussell's claim, made in 1838, that it was' the most promising whaling district in Western Australia.' The active barter of stores set the Vasse farmers on their feet.

Sales of surplus stock began as early as 1836, and by 1840 had become the most substantial source of money income. On 12th August of that year' Mr. Hurford and Elijah Dawson made a purchase of four heifers at twentyfive pounds each from "Cattle Chosen ".'

On 27th November a horse' Valentine was sold to Mr. Northey for 50 guineas.' Two years later Charles Bussell drew up the following table of the 'clear profit per annum ' from the estate:

Exports to India came a little later, but of horses, not of cheese.

A NOTE ON IMPORTS

As the settlement gained in vigour, the lists of requirements sent home grew less comprehensive. An early one, sent by John to Capel Carter in December 1832, ran thus:

'A barrel of gunpowder, treble strong, in cannister. No. 3 and 4 shot in proportion. Spades, shovels, hoes, Indian ditto, rakes. Rope for tackle. Percussion caps,

20,000 French Fish hooks and lines. Scotch caps, Sou'Westers. Guernsey frocks, Sailors' red woollen shirts. Socks, Canvas and duck for trousers. Sail needles. Sewing twine. Sailors' needles and thread. Hemp for shoes. Stout sole leather. Flushing cloth. Vice. Chisels, broads. Blankets. Four pair dark moleskin trousers, 3 of John's size, one larger in the waist and somewhat higher. 4 Black silk neckcloths, not cheap.'

Bessie, on her arrival, at Augusta, was so eager to catalogue her needs that she refused to chronicle her first impressions of the beauty of the country, the kindness of the Molloys and of the dear boys.' Starting from the blue check material of which her school clothes bag had been made, now intended for washing dresses, she went on to duck shirts, cloth trousers, calico, buckram, scissors, knives, candles, oil, soap, starch, stockings, shoes, thick and thin, and highlows, plenty of black and white worsted, metal basins and jugs, etc., etc. . . . Everything in the way of bedding and blankets that you can lay your hands on. . . . Boots to lace at side, high heels and the leather in a point in the instep. Mrs. Errington has made three pairs of my stays so small that I cannot wear them. I did not try on the last, as she had made some to fit me. Flannel. We can make our own things. Although things are coarse let them be genteel, small patterns and not many colours. Black ribbands for all hands. The boys' shoes fit very nicely, but are too slight.' Fanny adds, in a scrawl (for her): Another summer dress I shall certainly want. I find grey stockings invaluable. Blacking is not to be forgotten.'

Almost every early letter cries out for boots and shoes. Shoes', writes Mary,' wear out faster than you can conceive, and cannot be replaced.'

The urgent need of blankets mentioned by Bessie is explained by a message of Vernon's: I would not recommend cheap blankets. All ours that we brought out are completely worn out. In fact we have not one in the house, but I do not know whether our system of boiling them to kill the flea has not assisted in rotting them. The copper has been very useful for this!'

Sheep dogs, dairy apparatus, a horse-driven 'wheatmill', light plough, and a cross-cut saw 'eight feet long ' tell of Vernon's preoccupation with the tasks of a growing farm. The ladies continue careful about apparel, but their skill in ' making up ' grows. An old plaid cloak of Capel's sent out in 1833 is turned into 'jackets for the boys', which are admired by all'. In May '35 John records the wearing out of his:

'I am very badly off for a jacket. My plaid is gone in every direction. The knapsack wore out the back; the arms, elbows and pockets are likewise gone. The points of the lapels are still entire.' Bessie, in April 1837 records ' turning over old shirts, and converting the débris of many into a set for Ally.'

The requisitions are more and more for such accessories as bone buttons, black and white for the boys' trousers, and thimbles. Tooth brushes and hair ditto.'

Prices of soap, flour, tea and sugar are mentioned in letters only when unusual. In June '37 flour is £28 per ton. Rumours' from Augusta of a ship being there with flour on board at 2d. per lb.' put Charles and Mr. Vaughan on the road thither on 14th May 1840. On the 20th ' Mr. Vaughan and Charles returned from Augusta. The mill again in action.' Soap was 8s. a pound at the Swan in 1883. Tea and sugar are often in short supply. A purchase recorded by Bessie in the farm diary, on 23rd November

1837, probably represents average prices 198 lbs. of sugar at 7 d., of tea 2 lbs. at 6s., of rice 48 lbs. at 5d.' On 24th June 1840 Fanny, at the end of a long entry, notes with horror: The tea all gone!!' Next day's entry begins Fanny made butter, 7 lb. 14 oz. Coffee for breakfast! Horrid!' So far in Fanny's unmistakable hand, which then ceases for ten days. At the end of the alien entries comes this: Fanny still confined to her bed. Mr. Green' (the surgeon)' attempted to bleed her. No blood! !' And in Alfred Green's writing: The old adage not to be lost sight of-A. G.' Fanny's handwriting returns on the 17th when Mrs. McDermot called and drank tea here.' She, at least, was already a good Australian in her dependence

on tea.

VII

RELATIONS WITH THE NATIVES

JOHN BUSSELL lacked two things customary in a patriarch, age and a wife. He may have been an old young man', as he described himself to Sophie Hayward (see his letter in Appendix, p. 157), but he was only, after all, the eldest of five brothers at 'Cattle Chosen'. In the exercise of such power as he possessed he had to guard against exciting the younger brothers' natural impulses to challenge the eldest's right.' If I appear to govern', he confessed to Capel Carter in 1836, 'it is by watching the inclinations of others and making it my study to avert rather than thwart what I may disapprove.' How much his foresight meant to the group is borne home when one picks out the drift into tragedy which marked the Bussells' dealings with the natives, during his absence from 1837 to 1839.

The settlements at Augusta and the Vasse were not made on unoccupied land. They thrust themselves into the hunting-grounds of aborigines, weak indeed in numbers and in means of defence, but, like all humans, tenacious of the land that gave them birth and being. What was the duty—and policy—of the stronger race towards these savages? Was it to provide for them, or to destroy them? No statement from John Bussell's pen of his answer to that riddle has been found. Certain facts indicate, however, that he recognized the white man's duty to provide for the black, out of the surplus his better use of the land would provide. When he was present relations with the