96 A RAMBLE IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA 



to oust any native species, except very locally ; but no 

 doubt some Australian plants are menaced by the intro- 

 duction of foreign genera; and, in my opinion, the 

 domestic and other imported animals will ultimately 

 materially affect certain families of the native flora. 

 Man, above all other agents, is effecting great changes. 

 Here, as in all the settled parts of Australia, are many 

 spots, sometimes entire estates, that might, if superficial 

 appearances only are considered, have been cut out of an 

 English county and bodily transplanted hither. Every- 

 thing, from the house in its patch of hawthorn-planted 

 park, to the gooseberry bushes and gilliflowers in the 

 garden, is English. The horses, the dogs, the ducks, geese, 

 and fowls, are all of British origin if not of British breed, 

 and the owner of all these does his utmost, on Sundays at 

 least, to make himself thoroughly English, in a silk hat 

 and black frock-coat of perfectly Oxford Street style 

 and cut. 



Though so much of the land has been cultivated, and 

 more, at least, improved, there are long stretches of salt- 

 bush scrub within a short distance of Adelaide. When 

 this scrub is in flower (that is in winter time) it presents a 

 by no means unpleasing scene ; nor is this scrub any 

 evidence that the land is bad. Much really good land is 

 covered with salt-bush, and sheep readily eat and fatten 

 on it ; patches of it, therefore, are often left on the sheep- 

 runs, and in time of drought it is very valuable, as it lasts 

 long after the grass has failed, and no degree of aridity 

 will kill the roots. Many of the Australian birds nest 

 among it ; and I have noticed that the destruction of the 

 salt-bush generally results in these birds forsaking a 

 district. 



The celery-pine (Podocarpus asplenifolid) is a remark- 

 able-looking tree which is sure to attract the attention of 

 a stranger. It is very plentifully distributed on most of 

 the hills in this district, especially on those eastward of 

 Adelaide, covering some of the highest to their very tops 

 — that is over four thousand feet above sea-level. Nearly 

 all the telegraph-poles in this and the adjoining colonies 



