Page:The new British province of South Australia.djvu/43

24 Greenly, its elevation is between six and eight hundred feet, and it stands very near the water-side.

"Many smokes were seen round Coffin's Bay, and also two parties of natives, one on each side; these shores were therefore better inhabited than the more western parts of the South Coast: indeed, it has usually been found in this country, that the borders of shallow bays and lagoons, and at the entrance of rivers, are by far the most numerously peopled."

The basis of the Point he reports to be granitic, with an upper stratum of calcareous rock.

Thistle's Island appears, on the whole, to be uninviting, although Mr. Westall, who landed there and went a mile and a half inland, states that "the trees were high and the grass luxuriant." Flinders also remarks that the "size of the kangaroos found there was superior to those found upon the western islands, though much inferior to the forest kangaroos of the Continent." Captain Dillon again states that when he was there in December, 1815, he anchored to the north-west of the island, and remained on shore three days. Grass was then very abundant, as also was underwood. He killed several kangaroos of the kind called the "Wallaba." Here it may be well to remark that the number, size, and fatness of the kangaroos found on any spot may lead to a tolerably correct judgment as to the fertility of the soil. The kangaroo resembles in its habits the deer of England more than any other European animal, and feeds upon the same kind of herbage. It will therefore be fair to suppose that the more plentiful and luxuriant the herbage, the greater will be the number and size, and the better the condition of the animals feeding thereon. This argument may be extended to the human race, especially to those tribes who depend entirely for their subsistence upon success in hunting.

The more plentiful the food, the greater will be the population; and that population will be more active and