comes lightly wooded and undulating,
affording numerous sites for villas, on which many have already been
erected, both by settlers and the more opulent tradesmen. Individuals
indeed, residing in England, can form but a faint idea of the comforts
and conveniences they enjoy, at such a distance from their native
country. Being at sufficient elevation to catch the sea breeze, which
passes over the plains of Adelaide, without being felt, they have almost
the advantage of living near the sea coast, and the cool winds that sweep
down the valleys behind them, and constitute the land breeze, ensure to
them cool and refreshing evenings, when those dwelling at a lower
elevation are oppressed by heat. On the first rise of the mountains is
the Glen Osmond Lead Mine, which will be noticed hereafter. The Mount
Barker district being more numerously settled than most other parts of
the province, and being one of its most important and fertile districts,
more labour has been expended on the road leading into it, than on any
other in the colony. From the level of the Glen Osmond Mine, it winds up
a romantic valley, with steep hills of rounded form, generally covered
with grass, and studded lightly with trees on either side, nor is it,
until you attain the summit of the Mount Lofty range, that any change
takes place in the character of the hills or the vegetation, you then
find yourself travelling through a dense forest of stringy barks, the
finest of which have been levelled to the ground, with the axe, for the
purpose of being sawn into planks for building, or split into rails for
fencing. From Crafer's Inn, situated under the peak of Mount Lofty, the
road to Mount Barker passes through a barren country for some miles, and
crosses several steep valleys, in the centre of which there are rippling
streams; the summit of the ranges still continues to be thickly wooded,
the ground underneath being covered with shrubs and flowers of numberless
kinds and varied beauty. In illustration of this, I may observe, that the
first time I crossed the Mount Lofty range, I amused myself pulling the
different kinds of flowers as I rode along, and on counting them when I
reached Adelaide for the purpose of arranging them in a book, found that
I had no less than ninety-three varieties. The majority of these,
however, consisted of papilionaceous plants, and several beautiful
varieties of Orchideae. On descending to a lower level, after crossing
the Onkaparing