nter Bay; and I shall
not forget the surprise I experienced, when going to that place, on
finding I could not by any possibility avoid this formidable obstacle. On
the other side of Mount Terrible the country is very scrubby for some
miles, until, all at once, you burst upon the narrow, but beautiful
valley of Mypunga. This beautiful valley, which had scarcely been trodden
by the European when I first encamped upon it, was then covered with
Orchideous plants of every colour, amidst a profusion of the richest
vegetation. A sweet rippling stream passed within five yards of my
tent-door, and found its way to the Gulf about a mile below me to the
west. It was on the occasion of my going to the sea mouth of the Murray,
that I first stopped at this spot. Amongst the boat's crew I had brought
with me from Adelaide a young lad, of not more than twenty-one, who had,
for some weeks before, been leading a very hard life. At Mypunga he was
seized with delirium tremens, and became so exceedingly outrageous, that
I was obliged to have his feet and hands tied. In the morning he was
still as frantic as ever, but the policeman, under whose charge I had
placed him, having imprudently loosened the cord from his ankles, he
suddenly started upon his feet, and gaining the scrub, through which we
had descended into the valley, with incredible swiftness, secreted
himself amongst it. Nor could we, by the utmost efforts during that and
the succeeding day, discover his hiding place. I was accompanied by a man
of the name of Foley, a bushranger of great notoriety, who had been
captured by the Adelaide police, and was sent with my party in the hope
that his knowledge of the coast would be of use to me, but neither could
he discover the unfortunate runaway, who, there is no doubt, subsequently
perished. Beyond Mypunga, to the south, are the valleys of Yankalilla and
Rapid Bay, but very little, if in any respect inferior to the first
mentioned place. The country between them is, however, extremely hilly,
and contains some beautifully romantic spots of ground. The rock
formation of this part of the ranges is very diversified; the upper part
of Rapid valley is a fine grey limestone; a little to the southward veins
both of copper and lead have been discovered, and I have good reason for
supposing that quicksilver will one day or other be found in this part of
the province. At Willunga there is a small stream, which issues from a
valley close behind the to