172 
A VOYAGE TO 
[South Coast. 
1802. than twenty years before our arrival. This brings us back to La 
March. . 1 -i • • r r>n J T 
Perouse. He was in Botany Bay in the beginning ol 1788 ; and 11 
he did pass through Torres' Strait, and come round to this coast, as 
was his intention, it would probably be about the middle or latfer 
end of that year, or between thirteen and fourteen years before the 
Investigator. My opinion is not favourable to this conjecture ; but 
I have furnished all the data to enable the reader to form his own 
judgment upon the cause which might have prostrated the woods of 
these islands. 
The soil of that part of Kanguroo Island examined by us, was 
judged to be much superior to any before seen, either upon the south 
coast of the continent, or upon the islands near it ; with the excep- 
tion of some portions behind the harbours of King George's Sound. 
The depth of the soil was not particularly ascertained ; but from the 
thickness of the wood it cannot be very shallow. Some sand is 
mixed with the vegetable earth, but not in any great proportion ; 
and I thought the soil superior to some of the land cultivated at Port 
Jackson, and to much of that in our stony counties in England. 
Never perhaps had the dominion possessed here by the kan- 
guroo been invaded before this time. The seal shared with it upon 
the shores, but they seemed to dwell amicably together. It not unfre- 
quently happened, that the report of a gun fired at a kanguroo near the 
beach, brought out two or three bellowing seals from under bushes 
considerably further from the water side. The seal, indeed, seemed 
to be much the most discerning animal of the two ; for its actions 
bespoke a knowledge of our not being kanguroos, whereas the kan- 
guroo not unfrequently appeared to consider us to be seals. 
The latitude of the landing place near Kanguroo Head from an 
observation in the artificial horizon, was 35 0 43' o" south; and the lon- 
gitude of our anchorage by time keepers, 137 0 58' 31'" east. This last, 
being deduced from observations only four days after the proof had 
of the time keepers having gone correctly since leaving Port Lincoln, 
should be as accurate, or very nearly so, as the longitude of that port. 
