SOUTH AUSTRALIA. 399 



less stem bears a commemorative inscription. Here the people gather in multi- 

 tudes on the anniversaries of the foundation to celebrate the national feast. Free 

 settlers alone have taken part in the development of the colony, where no convicts 

 from beyond the seas were ever landed. Nevertheless, the growth of the popula- 

 tion was extremely slow down to the year 1846, when the discovery of rich copper- 

 mines immediately attracted numerous speculators and miners. But notwithstanding 

 this stimulus South Australia has lagged far behind the three eastern colonies of 

 Victoria, New South Wales, and Queensland in population, wealth, and trade. 

 In the years 1885-6 it even presented the phenomenon, unique in Australia, of a 

 temporary decrease in the number of its inhabitants, the emigration to the West 

 Australian mines and to other regions having exceeded the immigration and the 

 natural excess of births over the mortality. 



Although the climate is one of the healthiest for Europeans, it is dreaded on 

 account of its heats and the lack of invigorating sea breezes, the concave formation 

 of the coast facing the desert causing the parching winds of the interior to prevail. 

 Infant mortality is high, and the acclimatisation of the race presents greater diffi- 

 culties than in most other regions of the continent. Here also consumption, the 

 Australian malady par excellence, is more common than in any of the other colonies. 

 Another obstacle to progress are the long periods of drought, which occasionally 

 occur, and which render much of the land arid, unsuitable for tillage, and in 

 many places even saline and destitute of vegetation. In the northern districts the 

 torrid climate is still more unsuitable for European workmen, so that the suzerain 

 Government has been fain to tolerate the introduction of Malay and Chinese 

 labour. 



Thus nearly the whole of the white population is confined to the southern 

 region between the lower course of the Murray and the east side of Spencer Gulf. 

 Erom here also come the copper, wool, and wheat, from which South Australia 

 derives its importance in the British colonial world ; for the production of wheat it 

 takes the first place amongst the Australian states. Essays have been made at 

 ostrich-farming, while wine-growing has received a great development during the 

 last few years ; wines are already produced, which the growers in the different 

 districts compare to port, sherry and hock. The colony also exports fruits and 

 preserves. 



Adelaide, the ** Model City," capital of South Australia, ranks for population 

 after Melbourne and Sydney, already containing over one hundred and thirty 

 thousand inhabitants in the central quarters and its suburbs. It lies on a plain 

 near the sea not far from the first slopes of the Lofty Range rising to the east, 

 and on the banks of the Torrens River, which often runs dry. The broad streets 

 running at right angles in the direction of the cardinal points dispose the city in 

 a number of regular blocks. Enormous sums have been expended on the con- 

 struction of vast reservoirs in the neighbouring hills needed to supply the citj'' 

 with water. There are also numerous promenades, extensive parks, and one of 

 the most beautiful botanic gardens in the world. The University of South 

 Australia, the Institute and other learned societies, have their seat in the capital, 



