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distance by the highest summit of Mount Lofty, from which it lies nearly due west. A day or two after our arrival in Holdfast Bay,—a good anchorage, as its name denotes, in so far as the tenacity of the ground is concerned, but completely unsheltered, and therefore no longer, I believe, frequented by ships,—I had the pleasure of handing over my charge to the agent of immigration, whose duty it was to make arrangements for their comfort during the first few weeks, until they could find employment. The permission thus given them to quarter upon the public, although originating in just and benevolent motives, was in too many instances greatly abused, and was one of those causes which raised the value of labour in the colony to an inordinate height. Such is the demand for labour throughout these colonies, at least in New South Wales, Port Philip, and New Zealand, that any able and willing man or woman is sure of meeting with an advantageous engagement immediately on landing. Yet in South Australia it appears that the governor has been lately under the necessity of giving employment to about a hundred individuals, who, owing to physical debility, inexperience, or other causes refer able to the individual rather than to the community, were unable to obtain employment in private service. The beach at Holdfast Bay presents an animated spectacle upon the arrival of a large emigrant ship. Until their baggage could be landed, the whole body of men, women, and children, bivouacked on the beach and the neighbouring sand-hills. Large fires were lighted, and, with bursts of merriment, they testified their joy on once more treading the dry land. Some were dispatched into the neighbouring woods to collect fuel; others to
