In the following pages, therefore, it is proposed to give some account of that province, from whence, as the reader is aware, I took my departure, before commencing my recent labours.  Its circumstances and prospects have, I know, of late, been frequently brought before the public, but, I trust, nevertheless, that my observations will carry something of novelty, if not of interest, and utility with them.

South Australia, then, the youngest of the colonies that have been established round the shores of the Australian Continent, is situate, as its name would imply, upon its southern coast.  It extends from the 132nd to the 141st degree of longitude east from Greenwich, and runs up northwards into the interior to the 26th parallel of latitude.  The district of Port Phillip bounds it on the east, for which reason, the fixing of the eastern boundary line between those two fine provinces has of late been a point of great interest and importance.  Mr. Tyers, an able and intelligent officer, was employed by the Government of New South Wales, primarily to determine the longitude of the mouth of the Glenelg, and from his triangulations and observations it would appear that the 141st meridian falls on the coast about a mile and a half to the eastward of it.  Subsequent observations, taken by Captain Stokes, in command of Her Majesty’s surveying ship, the Beagle, differ slightly from the result of Mr. Tyers’ observations, but they prove beyond doubt, the care and accuracy with which the latter officer carried on his survey.  The point, has since, I believe, been finally recognised by the governments of Sydney and Adelaide, and the boundary line been marked to the distance of 123 miles from the coast.  The party employed in this useful undertaking, however, was obliged to relinquish it for a time, in consequence of heavy rains; but it is not probable that any dispute will hereafter arise on the question.  If the line could have been extended to the Murray river, it would have been as well, but the desert country beyond it is valueless to civilised man.  Taking it for granted, then, that the S.E. angle of the province of South Australia has been fixed, we shall in the first instance proceed along its sea line, and notice any thing worthy of observation, before we enter into a detail as to the character of the country itself.

From the mouth of the Glenelg the coast of South Australia trends to the westward as far as Cape Northumberland in long. 140 degrees 37 minutes and in lat. 38 degrees; [Note 11.  The reader will be good enough to bear in mind that the Longitudes in this work are all east of Greenwich, and that the Latitudes are south.] from Cape Northumberland it turns to the N.N.W., keeping that general direction for more than 100 miles.  Between the last mentioned Cape and Cape Morard des Galles in lat. 36 1/2 degrees, there are several bays, two only of which, Rivoli Bay, immediately to the north of Cape Lannes, and Guichen Bay, a little to