miles from its chief town, so his judgment was
formed principally upon hearsay. Others, probably, have gone into the
contrary extreme of praising the soil too highly, and truth may, as
usual, lie between the two extremes.

[155] It is noticed as a matter of surprise, that on August 6th, 1841,
Mount Lofty, a hill 2400 feet in height, was covered with snow, and that
the small river, called the Torrens, had been partly frozen.

[156] During the first six months of 1841, seventy vessels, comprising
a burden of 11,139 tons, arrived at Port Adelaide. See Australian and
New Zealand Magazine, No. 2, p. 114.

The capital of the province of South Australia bears the honoured name
of Adelaide, and is placed upon the eastern side of the Gulf of St.
Vincent. The country around it is hilly and well timbered, but not too
thickly encumbered with wood, and the soil is generally good, with
abundance of water. The British settlers removed to this spot from
Kangaroo Island, which is at the entrance of Gulf St. Vincent, but which
they found less desirable for a colony from the difficulty and expense
of clearing away the timber there. Adelaide is supposed to be well and
centrally placed for the capital of a province, and it now has a good
port,[157] to which vessels of four or five hundred tons may come and
discharge their cargoes.

[157] Here again reports differ. See Mr. T. Driver's Evidence before the
Committee on South Australia, p. 221, Answer, 2498, and _following ones_.

The town stands on gently rising banks, between which flows a pretty
stream, named the Torrens, and commands a view of an extensive plain,
reaching down to the sea, over which the fresh breezes generally blow
from the south-west. Behind Adelaide is a fine wooded country, and six
miles distant is a range of hills, with the wooded summit of Mount Lofty
forming their highest point. The population of the capital of South
Australia and its immediate neighbourhood, is supposed to be about eight
thousand. The town has not yet many buildings or establishments of any
importance, but there is a hospital, and also a savings' bank, in which
last, during six months of 1841, the deposits had increased from 130_l._
0_s._ 2_d._ to 520_l._ 2_s._ 10_d._ It had _four_ newspapers and _one_
colonial chaplain in 1842, and the estimates for that year contained the
following items:--Police, 9112_l._ 19_s._ 4_d._; jail, 1034_l._ 8_s._;
colonial chaplain, 370_l._ But