wnship, and appears in former times to have
laid many hundred acres of the flats below under water. Their soil is
composed of the very richest alluvial deposit, and has produced some of
the finest crops of wheat in the province. Aldinga plains lie to the
south-west of Willunga, and are sufficiently extensive to feed numerous
sheep, but unavailable in consequence of the deficiency of water upon
them, and are an instance of a large tract of land lying in an
unprofitable state, which might, with little trouble and expense, by
sinking wells in different parts, be rendered extremely valuable. On
ascending the hills above Willunga, in following up the southern line of
road to Encounter Bay, it leads for several miles through a stringy-bark
forest, and brings the traveller upon the great sandy basin, between
Willunga and Currency Creek. This gloomy and sterile feature bears a
strong contrast to the rich and fertile valleys I have described, and is
really a most remarkable formation in the geology of the province. At an
elevation of between 600 and 700 feet this basin is surrounded on all
sides by rugged stony hills, excepting to the south and south-east, in
which direc tion it falls into the valley of the Hindmarsh and Currency
Creek respectively. Mount Magnificent, Mount Compass, and Mount Jagged,
rise in isolated groups in different parts of the basin, the soil of
which is pure sand, its surface is undulating, and in many parts covered
with stunted banksias, through which it is difficult to force one's way
in riding along. The Finniss rises behind Mount Magnificent, and is
joined by a smaller branch from Mount Compass, as it flows from the
eastward. At about 25 miles from Willunga the traveller descends into the
valley of Currency Creek, and finds the change from the barren tract over
which he has been riding as sudden as when he entered upon it from the
rich flats of Willunga. The valley of Currency Creek is not, however, the
same as those I have already described in other parts of the colony; it
is prettily wooded and grassy, but continues narrow for some distance
after you have entered it; a small running stream, with a rocky bed,
occupying the centre of the valley, which ultimately escapes from the
hills by a kind of gorge, and discharges itself into an arm of the
Goolwa. The extent of good land in Currency Creek is not very great, and
is bounded both to the north and south by barren scrub. Due south, at the
distance from