In the morning, Captain Barker proceeded to ascend Mount Lofty, accompanied by Mr. Kent and his servant, leaving the two soldiers at the bivouac, at which he directed them to remain until his return.  Mr. Kent says they kept the ridge all the way, and rose above the sea by a gradual ascent.  The rock-formation of the lower ranges appeared to be an argillaceous schist; the sides and summit of the ranges were covered with verdure, and the trees upon them were of more than ordinary size.  The view to the eastward was shut out by other ranges, parallel to those on which they were; below them to the westward, the same pleasing kind of country that flanked the inlet still continued.

Mount Barker.

In the course of the day they passed round the head of a deep ravine, whose smooth and grassy sides presented a beautiful appearance.  The party stood 600 feet above the bed of a small rivulet that occupied the bottom of the ravine.  In some places huge blocks of granite interrupted its course, in others the waters had worn the rock smooth.  The polish of these rocks was quite beautiful, and the veins of red and white quartz which traversed them, looked like mosaic work.  They did not gain the top of Mount Lofty, but slept a few miles beyond the ravine.  In the morning they continued their journey, and, crossing Mount Lofty, descended northerly, to a point from which the range bent away a little to the N.N.E., and then terminated.  The view from this point was much more extensive than that from Mount Lofty itself.  They overlooked a great part of the gulf, and could distinctly see the mountains at the head of it to the N.N.W.  To the N.W. there was a considerable indentation in the coast, which had escaped Captain Barker’s notice when examining it.  A mountain, very similar to Mount Lofty, bore due east of them, and appeared to be the termination of its range.  They were separated by a valley of about ten miles in width, the appearance of which was not favourable.  Mr. Kent states to me, that Capt.  Barker observed at the time that he thought it probable I had mistaken this hill for Mount Lofty, since it shut out the view of the lake from him, and therefore he naturally concluded, I could not have seen Mount Lofty.  I can readily imagine such an error to have been made by me, more especially as I remember that at the time I was taking bearings in the lake, I thought Captain Flinders had not given Mount Lofty, as I then conceived it to be, its proper position in longitude.  Both hills are in the same parallel of latitude.  The mistake on my part is obvious.  I have corrected it in the charts, and have availed myself of the opportunity thus afforded me of perpetuating, as far as I can, the name of an inestimable companion in Captain Barker himself.