104 THE SPENCER GULF DISTRICT 



covered with salt bush. In the interior part of the range 

 are many deep gullies, and sharp and broken masses of 

 rock are strewn about in great confusion. Near the town- 

 ship of Quorn, which is situated on the top of Flinder's 

 range, at an elevation of about two thousand feet, there is 

 a conical hill which is surmounted by two of these masses 

 giving the outline of the mount a strong resemblance to 

 the devil's horns, hence it is called "The Devil's Peak." 

 The view from this peak is very fine, embracing an 

 extensive stretch of Spencer Gulf to the east, and the 

 plains to the south and south-east. Townships which are 

 fully fifty miles distant, are distinctly visible through the 

 beautiful clear Australian air. 



The broken masses of rock often assume very fantastic 

 shapes, and as is usual in such cases, bear equally fantastic 

 designations. There is a small host of Devil's Peaks, 

 Devil's Punch-bowls, and Devil's Horns in the Port 

 Augusta district. Passing by these, I may mention the 

 Cathedral Rock situated at the back of Mount Remarkable. 

 The Cathedral is thought much of by the people of Port 

 Augusta and the townships for many miles around ; and 

 it is a favourite resort of pleasure parties, the more so, 

 perhaps, because a good deal of hard climbing is entailed 

 in the reaching of it. It is a rugged mass embedded in 

 the steep slope of a hill, and seems to threaten to fall 

 headlong, ere long, into the ravine below. The situation 

 is, I think, more remarkable than the rock itself, and 

 further northward I have found several more singular 

 masses. One of these, which was about half a mile in 

 circumference at the base, and more than two hundred 

 feet high (four times the dimensions of the Cathedral Rock) 

 was notable for the number of ragged pinnacles which 

 crowned its summit. Up this rock I contrived to climb 

 about halfway, but the top seems to be inaccessible. 



All these rocks, and the bare mountain sides, are 

 everywhere covered with lichens and beautifully tinted 

 mosses, which add greatly to the beauty of their appear- 

 ance, but render the surface so slippery as greatly to 

 increase the danger of scaling the sides of those which are 



