journeys, I had spared no toil nor exertion, to make my examination as
complete and as useful as possible, though my labours were not rewarded
by commensurate success. The great mass of the peninsula is barren, arid,
and worthless; and although Port Lincoln possesses a beautiful, secure,
and capacious harbour, with a convenient and pretty site for a town, and
immediately contiguous to which there exists some extent of fine and
fertile soil, with several good grassy patches of country beyond; yet it
can never become a large or important place, in consequence of its
complete isolation, except by water, from every other, and the limited
nature of its own resources.

For one or two large stock-holders, who wish to secure good grazing
ground, and be apart from others, it might answer well, but even they
would ordinarily labour under difficulties and disadvantages which would
make their situation not at all desirable. The uncertainty and expense of
procuring their supplies--of obtaining labour, and of finding a market
for their surplus stock [Note 12 at end of para.], and the almost total
impossibility of their being able to effect sales in the event of their
wishing to leave, would perhaps more than counterbalance the advantages of
having the country to themselves. Purchased in the days of wild and
foolish speculation, and when a rage existed for buying land and laying
out townships, no place has been more misrepresented or misunderstood than
Port Lincoln. Many gross and glaring misstatements have been put forth of
its character and capabilities, by those who were actuated by interested
motives, and many unintentional misrepresentations have been made and
perpetuated by others, whose judgment or information has led them into
error, so that the public generally, and especially the English public,
have had no means of discriminating between the widely conflicting
accounts that have been given. Amongst the persons from whom this small
settlement has suffered disparagement there are none, perhaps, more