three vessels of 250 or 300 tons, altogether preferable to either
of those I have mentioned, as being more sheltered, and having better
holding ground--but we must not forget that it is deeper in the bay,
and there would consequently be a greater difficulty in beating out;
but the truth is that the importance and capabilities of these
harbours will only be developed as the wants of the colonists
render it necessary for them to have ports in this vicinity. When the
country to the eastward of the mountains shall be more thickly peopled,
and when the rich and fertile valleys of the Inman, the Hindmarsh and
Currency Creek, and the available country between the two last, be more
generally cultivated, and when the mines at the Reedy Creek and other
places are at full work, the want of a harbour at Encounter Bay will be
sufficiently apparent.

The principal whale fishery on the coast of South Australia is in
Encounter Bay, and has, I believe, of late years proved as advantageous a
speculation to those who have carried it on as could be expected; profits
are of course dependent on contingencies, as the nature of the season and
the number of whales that may visit the coast: but the fishery at
Encounter Bay has certainly been as successful as any other on the coast,
and would have been more so if the ground had not been intruded upon. As
a source of colonial industry, and as a proof of commercial enterprise, I
should regret to see this bold and hardy occupation abandoned. See
Appendix.

From Rosetta Head the line of coast again trends for a short distance to
the west, and forms, together with the opposite shore of Kangaroo Island,
the Backstairs Passage, or eastern entrance into St. Vincent's Gulf, of
which Cape Jervis is the N.W. point. It is here that the more important
navigation of the South Australian seas commences. The line of coast I
have already described is not sufficiently known to be approached by the
stranger without caution, nevertheless the several bays and harbours I
have mentioned may offer better shelter and greater convenience than I am
able to point out.

One of the first establishments, if not the very first, of the South
Australian Company was on Kangaroo Island, on the shores of Nepean Bay.
Here the town of Kingscote was laid out, and some very good houses built,
which are now falling to dilapidation and decay, since it has been
abandoned by the Company's servants for some years. Nevertheless
Kingscote