ery moderate
prices. In 1839 there were but 440 acres under cultivation; three years
afterwards there were 23,000 acres bearing wheat, and 5,000 acres of
other crops. So rich and fertile was the soil that, in 1845, the
colonists not only raised enough of corn to supply their own wants,
but were able to export about 200,000 bushels at cheap rates to the
neighbouring colonies, and even then were left with 150,000 bushels,
which they could neither sell nor use. So rapid a development of
resources and so sudden an accession of prosperity have probably never
occurred in the history of any other country.

#2. Mineral Wealth.#--Such was the success attendant upon careful
industry, exercised with prudence, and under favourable circumstances;
but the colony was to owe yet more to accidental good fortune. During
the year 1841, a carrier, while driving his team of bullocks over the
Mount Lofty Range, had been obliged, by the steepness of the road, to
fasten a log to the back of his waggon in order to steady the load and
prevent its descending too quickly. As the log dragged roughly behind on
the road, it tore great furrows in the soil, and in one of these the
carrier noticed a stone which glanced and glittered like a metal. On
looking more closely, he saw that there were large quantities of the
same substance lying near the surface of the earth in all directions.
Having taken some specimens with him, he made inquiries in Adelaide, and
learned that the substance he had discovered was galena, a mineral in
which sulphur is combined with lead and small quantities of silver. The
land on which this valuable ore had been found was soon purchased, and
mines opened upon it. At first there was a large profit obtained from
the enterprise; and though, in after years, the mines became exhausted,
yet they served to call the attention of the colonists to the
possibility of discovering more permanent and lucrative sources of
mineral wealth.

#3. Copper.#--At the Kapunda Station, about forty miles north-west of
Adelaide, there lived a squatter named Captain Bagot. One day, during
the year 1842, he sent his overseer--Mr. Dutton--to search for a number
of sheep which had strayed into the bush. After spending some time in
fruitless efforts, Mr. Dutton ascended a small hill in order to have a
more extensive view of the country, but still he saw nothing of the lost
sheep. On turning to descend, his attention was attracted by a bright
green rock j