119 



1844, was an asylum for the offscourings of Australian society, 

 including escaped convicts and deserters, with whom were 

 aboriginal women from Tasmania, Port Lincoln and Cape 

 Jervis, earning a precarious livelihood by hunting and a little 

 cultivation. From the same author we gather that in 1844 

 there were residents at Hog Bay, Point Morrison and Ante- 

 chamber Bay, in addition to those previously mentioned. 



The first pastoral leases were granted in 1851, and comprised 

 twelve square miles at Cygnet E,iver and six at Smith's Bay. 

 Since this date nearly the whole island has gradually been 

 brought into use for sheepf arming on a small scale ; but it was 

 not till 1882-3 that any large importation of sheep took place, 

 when Messrs. Taylor & Co. stocked their runs in the south- 

 western parts of the island with sheep brought from the Mount 

 Grambier district. 



The first land sales were made 15 years after the foundation 

 of the settlement at Kingscote, and purchases of small blocks 

 averaging 100 acres continued to be made for the next 20 

 years. 



At and near Kingscote 468 acres were purchased during 

 the years 1851-8 ; at Cygnet Eiver, 1,087 acres during 1851-71 ; 

 at Shoal Point, 127 acres during 1855-58 ; about Hog Bay, 

 1,068 acres during 1857 to 1863. 



By proclamation 13th August, 1874, the Hundred of Dudley, 

 comprising 21,975 acres, was offered for selection, and the first 

 selection was taken out September 19, 1876. On April 11, 

 1878, the Hundred of Menzies was proclaimed, and 37,302 

 acres offered for selection, and the first sales were made 

 January 24, 1882. On May 10, 1883, the Hundred of Haines, 

 embracing the south shore of Nepean Bay, was proclaimed, 

 but the land has not yet been offered for sale. 



Sfeface Featuees. 

 ■ Of all islands belonging to the Australian system, Kangaroo 

 Island is the second in point of size ; it is of an oblong 

 shape, attenuated in its eastern third into the Peninsula of 

 Dudley ; the longer diameter, which is nearly due east and 

 west, is 90 miles ; the breadth of the main mass is about 25 

 miles, and of the peninsular portion ten miles ; and its cir- 

 cumference is not less than 300 miles. Its area is about 1,500 

 square miles. 



Kangaroo Island bridles the deep indentation of the main 

 known as St. Vincent Grulf, and is separated from the Cape 

 Jervis Promontory by Backstairs Passage, which is eight miles 

 wide at its narrowest part ; the other entrance to St. Vincent 

 Gulf is Investigator's Straits, which is 28 miles broad at the 

 narrowest part between Cape Spencer, on Yorke Peninsula. 



