ty of room yet for
improvement, I allow."

And now they turned into King William Street, and drew up at the front
of a large store.

"This is my business place," said the merchant; "but I shall not ask you
to look at it now; we must be off again immediately for my country
residence among the hills. Here, James, give the horses a little water;
now then, let us start again."

A few minutes more and they were rapidly crossing the Park Lands.

"These are gum trees, I suppose?" asked Hubert.

"Yes, they are," said his uncle; "but not worth much, either for timber,
ornament, or shade. You wouldn't get much relief from the heat under
the poor shadow of their tassel-like foliage."

"What a very strange noise!" exclaimed Frank; "it seems as if a number
of stocking-looms were at work in the air."

"See now," said Mr Oliphant, "the force of habit. I'm so used to the
sound, that I was utterly unconscious of it. It is made by the cicada,
an insect very common in this country. And now, where do you suppose
we're coming to? This little village or township before us is Norwood,
and then comes Kensington. I've no doubt it will strike you as one of
the oddest things in this colony, till you get used to it, though, of
course, it isn't peculiar to this colony, how places are made close
neighbours here, which are very widely separated in the old country,
from which they are borrowed."

"But why not retain the native names?" asked Hubert.

"Ah, why not, indeed? What can be more musical in sound than Yatala,
Aldinga, Kooringa, Onkaparinga. But then, we could not always find
native names enough; and, besides this, the Englishman likes to keep the
old country before him, by giving his place some dear familiar name that
sounds like home."

In about another half hour they reached their destination among the
hills.

"The Rocks," as Mr Abraham Oliphant's place was called, was situated on
a hill-side, high above the valley, but on a moderate slope. A stout
post-and-rail fence surrounded the estate, and one of a more compact
nature enclosed the more private grounds. The house was large, and
covered a considerable surface, as there were no rooms above the
basement floor. The front windows commanded a magnificent view of the
city of Adelaide, with its surrounding lands, suburbs, and neighbouring
villages, and of the sea in the extreme distance. At the back was a
remarkable group of rocks, from which the estate took its name;