t the overseer and stockman indulging in, as I threw my leg over
as ugly a hammer-headed, standing-over brute as ever man crossed; but
with the aid of a severe bit and a sharp pair of spurs I kept him alive,
and he only came down twice during the journey, which, although over a
very hilly country, was performed in four hours. After taking some
refreshment, we started at 4 P.M. for Adelaide, distant nearly sixty
miles.

MOUNT TERRIBLE.

We crossed the Myponga; and led our horses down a winding path on the
almost precipitous side of Mount Terrible, well worthy its name, just as
the sun was shedding his last rays over the waters of the Gulf, that
stretched away westward, apparently, from our feet; the white sails of a
coaster here and there dotting the blue expanse. Hitherto the road had
been over a succession of hills and dales, with occasionally a patch of
pretty scenery; but from the foot of Mount Terrible a level,
lightly-timbered piece of country extended to the Unkaparinga, which we
crossed, passing through the township of Noarlinga, on its north bank.

After stopping to bait the horses, we continued our ride; but it was now
so very dark that I lost all the beauty of this part of the country, and
from the undulations in the road I could easily imagine that many a
pretty glen was veiled from us by the darkness. Getting off the track, we
became entangled among some high five-railed fences, from which we were
extricated by the sagacity of my horse, belonging to the mounted police;
on being given his head, he soon brought us back upon the road to
Adelaide, where we arrived about midnight, having ridden, since 10 A.M.,
nearly ninety miles. We had scarcely reached the town before a hot wind
set in, which lasted forty-eight hours, when a squall from seaward
relieved the gasping inhabitants: at one time the thermometer at the
public offices was 158 degrees.

SAIL FROM SOUTH AUSTRALIA.

We sailed from South Australia on February 7th, but it was not until the
forenoon of the 9th that we cleared Backstairs Passage, passing half a
mile from the reef fronting the east end of Kangaroo Island, in 16
fathoms; the south-eastern part of this island is a steep rocky shore,
with few sinuosities. Southerly winds brought us in sight of the land at
daylight on the 11th. The most remarkable features were Mounts Gambier
and Schanck; the summit of the latter, the least conspicuous, is flat,
with a hollow in the centre. According to my ob