"
The general structure and aspect of the country may be thus
described:--from Cape Leuwin to Cape Naturaliste (the southern head of
Baie Geographe,) which is not quite a degree of latitude, the coast is
formed of a range of hills, of uniform and moderate elevation. From
Geographer's Bay to the northward of Swan River, the whole coast line
is a limestone ridge, varying in height from twenty to six hundred
feet, and extending inward to the distance of from one to five miles.
Behind this ridge (whose occasional naked and barren appearance
Captain Stirling also thinks may have caused the early and continued
prejudice against the fertility of this western coast) commences a
great plain, which occupies a space, from south to north, of
undetermined length, (reaching, perhaps, to King George's Sound,) and
varying, in breadth, from twenty to fifty miles. The eastern boundary
of this plain skirts the base of an almost continuous and abrupt chain
of mountains, to which Captain Stirling gave the name of "General
Darling's Range." One of the points, the highest seen and measured by
him, was about three thousand feet high, The average height is stated
to be from twelve hundred to fifteen hundred feet.
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