Page:History of Adelaide and vicinity.djvu/59

The Founders some that were unnecessary. Although they seemed to follow their duties with energy and in a systematic manner, it was a weary time until the central site was determined on ; and in the meantime the tempers of officials and private persons became unpleasantly ruffled.

During the month of October, Colonel Light again visited the arm of the sea north of Holdfast Bay, and inspected the waterway upon which Port Adelaide is situated. He trudged over the plain stretching from Holdfast Bay, and was delighted with the prospect it presented. Then, leaving Mr. Kingston and others to thoroughly explore in the neighborhood, he returned to Rajiid Bay. He had already considered it probable that Port Adelaide would be utilised as the main harbor for the Province, and that the city would be built near by, being pleased with the anchorage and the appearance; of the adjacent country. Early in November he sighted the Africainc in Rapid Bay. .Six passengers from this vessel landed on Kangaroo Island, and made a long journey into the island. They had no conception of the obstacles to be faced ; their provisions gave out, and the way was rough and overgrown with bush. Once they slaked their thirst in the blood of seagulls. Four of them reached the settlement in a terribly reduced state; two — Dr. Slater (whose skeleton was found in 1864) and Mr. Osborne — succumbed in the bush. Colonel Light instructed the master of the Africaine to proceed to Holdfast Bay, and soon there were three vessels —  the  Cygnet, Rapid, and Africaine — at anchor in the roadstead there. On November 7, the Surveyor- General was again in Holdfast Bay. Scurvy now broke out among the people, and he sent one of the vessels to Hobart, Tasmania, for a supply of fresh provisions. In the interval of his absence in the south, Messrs. Field, Kingston, and Morphett had discovered the River Yatala, afterwards named the Torrens after Colonel Torrens. With Mr. Gouger and Mr. Brown, Colonel Light inspected this river, and was greatly disappointed to find it terminate at the Reedbeds without a navigable outlet to the sea. From the richness of the soil, he had hoped to establish the capital upon it, especially as he could find no suitable locality on the Port River,

Notwithstanding his conviction that the first settlement must be formed near the inlet discovered in September, Colonel Light had to obey his instructions and examine Port Lincoln and other localities. Again leaving Mr. Kingston (who next to the Surveyor-General must be complimented for the choice of Adelaide) and several surveyors to further explore on the plain, he sailed out of Gulf St. Vincent on November 25, called at Rapid and Nepean Bays, and directed his course to the western coast of Spencer Gulf. He ascertained that, while Port Lincoln had a splendid harbor, the extremely limited quantity of land suitable for occupation in its neighborhood was fatal to any claim it might possess to be the capital of the new colony. He left Spencer Gulf, and, believing that no navigable channel would be found connecting the River Murray with the sea. he determined to leave Rh