Volltext Seite (XML)
70 FEATHERED TRIBES. small rivers and a morass, our horses following cautiously in the wake of their veteran leader, and as day broke, we emerged into the open and undulating country, which extends eastward from Mount Lofty. The fatigue of a nocturnal ride could not render me insensible to the beauty of the scene which revealed itself to us at break of day. I felt an exhilaration of spirits which dispelled all sense of weariness; and my com panions were still more pleased than myself, for they re garded the park-like landscape, which extended on all sides, with the interest of practical graziers. The Mount Barker district offers a fine specimen of the open forest scenery of Australia; and is infinitely superior for every purpose, pastoral or agricultural, to the country west ward of the hill range. The soil throughout this district rests upon a calcareous rock, traversed by numerous dykes of trap, a formation which is extremely favourable to the production of a fertile loam. If even a tenth part of South Australia could bear a comparison with this portion of the colony, it is doubtful whether any region of the globe could display a locality better adapted for the pur poses of an active and civilized community. Some of the trees were absolutely white with multitudes of cockatoos, whose gregarious instincts render them so extremely suspicious and watchful, that in our endeavours to approach within gunshot of the flock we were always frustrated by the vigilance of their sentries, or outposts, stationed in advance of the main body. The utterance of a short and angry screech, by these watchful function aries, was followed by the departure of the snow-white multitude, with a hoarse din and clamour which it is im possible to describe. In the black cockatoos, the social