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OF THE

RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE NEW BRITISH PROVINCE

OF

SOUTH AUSTRALIA;

INCLUDING

PARTICULARS DESCRIPTIVE OF ITS SOIL, CLIMATE, NATURAL PRODUCTIONS, &c.
AND PROOFS OF ITS SUPERIORITY TO ALL OTHER BRITISH COLONIES.

EMBRACING ALSO A FULL ACCOUNT OF THE

South Australian Company

WITH

HINTS TO VARIOUS CLASSES OF EMIGRANTS, AND NUMEROUS LETTERS FROM
SETTLERS CONCERNING WAGES, PROVISIONS, THEIR SATISFACTION

WITH THE COLONY, &c:

BY JOHN STEPHENS.

SECOND EDITION.

"We daily receive letters from various correspondents, requesting our opinion as to the best
places for individual emigrants to resort to."-Times.

"There never was a time when room for labour was more wanted in England than the
present."-Spectator.

"South Australia is, at present, in the ascendant to what is to us a most interesting class
of emigrants-respectable labourers and artisans, and intelligent and educated small capi
talists, aspiring to improve their condition, or to keep their place in society, after the
atruggle has become hopeless in the Old World."-Tait's Edinburgh Magazine.

LONDON:

SMITH, ELDER, AND CO., CORNHILL.

1839.

tt The Author will be happy to give any information to intending emigrants of every' class, on application to him, by letter (post paid), addressed "To the care of Messrs. Smith, Elder, and Co., Cornhill." Well-authenticated communications respecting the new colony may likewise be addressed to him (confidentially or otherwise), as above.

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PREFACE.

THE following sheets pretend to no higher merit than belongs to industry in the collection of information, care in ascertaining its authenticity, and fairness in making selections from the mass. The author is not conscious of having concealed any defect, or exaggerated any merit, attaching to the subject of his narrative; nor is he aware of the existence of any source of appropriate information which he has not exhausted. He has not felt it necessary to refrain from expressing his opinion on several matters relating to the colony; but he has, in every case, expressed it distinctly and directly, and not through any unauthorised colouring of facts. The reason of this publication is, he trusts, apparent in its completeness and fulness, as compared with any other work of a similar description.

An edition of this work, under the title of "The Land of Promise," having already been disposed of, the author has embraced the opportunity of complying with the suggestions of some experienced friends in whose judgment he has confidence. It has been suggested to him, that (however imperfect) this book is of the nature of a history of South Australia, and ought, therefore, to be so entitled. The former title has likewise been objected to, on the ground of vagueness and liability to misconstruction. The hint also has been dropped, that the author's name ought to accompany a publication not merely descriptive of a country of which little has hitherto been known, and illustrative of the working of principles of colonization, till now untried, but involving facts which require authentication; and that the more especially, as another work which is not anonymous has just appeared, abound⚫ing in statements of a diametrically opposite nature and tendency. Yielding to the force of these representations, the author has remodelled his title, and announces his name to the world; and he will be but too happy should his stepping forth from his retirement, prove in any degree serviceable to the interests of the colony or those of truth.

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