than we now see them, and it may, therefore, be questioned how far they ought to be put into the scale.  In this view of the matter, and taking the hilly country only into account, the proportion of unavailable and of pastoral land may be nearly equal; but that of the better description will still, I think, fall short of the other two.  Taking South Australia in its length and breadth, the quantity of available land is, beyond doubt, very limited, but I regard it as exceedingly good, and believe that its capabilities have by no means been ascertained.  I feel satisfied, indeed, that necessity will prove, not only, that the present pastoral districts are capable of maintaining a much greater number of stock upon them than they have hitherto borne, but that the province is also capable of bearing a very great amount of population; that it is peculiarly fitted for a rural peasantry, and that its agricultural products will be sufficient to support masses of the population employed either in its mining or manufactures.  In this view of the subject it would appear that Providence has adapted the land to meet its new destinies, and that nothing we can say, either in praise or censure of its natural capabilities, will have the effect of concealing either the one or the other, as time shall glide on.

On the better soils the average crop of wheat is rather over than under twenty-five bushels to the acre.  In many localities, and more especially when the ground is first cropped, it exceeds forty; and on some lands, once my own, in the Reed Beds, at the termination of the Torrens’ river, five acres, which I sold to Mr. Sparshott, averaged fifty-two bushels to the acre.  The Reed Beds may be said to be on the plains of Adelaide, and their very nature will account to the reader for the richness of their soil; but the soil of the plains is not generally good, excepting in such places where torrents descending from the hills have spread over portions, and covered them with an alluvial deposit to a greater or less depth.  The average crop of wheat on the plains does not exceed twelve or fifteen bushels to the acre, and depends on the time when the hot winds may set in.  Barley on the light sandy soil of the plains is much heavier than wheat.

In the description I have thus endeavoured to give of South Australia, I have omitted any mention of the district of Port Lincoln, chiefly because sufficient was not known of it when I sailed for England to justify my hazarding any remark.  Recent advices from the colony state that a practicable line of route from Adelaide has been discovered along the western shore of Spencer’s Gulf, and therefore, the disasters that overtook early explorers in that quarter, are not likely again to occur.  It is farther said, that the number of sheep now depastured on the lands behind Port Lincoln, amounts to 70,000—­a proof of the utility, if not the richness of the country—­as far, however, as I am aware, the soil must be considered