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 is a very pretty sea-port town, and the harbour is undoubtedly good.  The bay is large enough to hold a number of ships, and is secure from all winds, being almost completely land-locked.  The water inside moreover is smooth, since the bay is protected by a long spit of sand, whereby the roughness of the outer sea does not affect it, and vessels consequently lie there during heavy weather without any apparent motion.  It is to be regretted, that, with such advantages, Kingscote Harbour should have any drawback, but when we have given credit for its capabilities as a harbour, we have done all, and even as a harbour, sailors are divided in opinion, whether or not American River, or a small bay, five miles to the south-east of it, are not to be preferred.  In Nepean Bay there is a deficiency of water, which is not the case in either of the last mentioned places.  The soil is equally good in the neighbourhood of all three, but Kingscote having been occupied, the ground has been cleared of the dense brush that grew on it in a state of nature, and some of the most productive gardens in the Province are to be found there.  It is astonishing what quantities of the finest onions are sent from Kingscote, with other produce, to Adelaide.  The island is, however, so generally and so heavily covered with brushwood, that although the soil is good in many places, it has been found impracticable