16 
The South Australian Naturalist. 
raptured with the civic adornment of Adelaide. They say, inter 
alia: — The city of Adelaide, witii a population of just over half 
a million, occupies a fertile coastal plain between the Mount 
Lofty Ranges and the sea, a distance of about IS miles. With 
wise forethought the State Ciovernment has at various periods 
purchased various tracts of land comprising the foothills of the 
ranges facing the city, and during the last SO } ears these tracts 
have been largely brought under forest, making a beautiful back- 
ground to the city. Firebreaks divide the forest into irregular 
blocks, and many of these, e.^pecialiy those leading through the 
more picturesque gulhes (as the Australians call canyons) are 
surfaced for car traffic. Aeroplanes and airships can land on 
these breaks, and this form of travel is widely availed of by the 
residents, whose beautiful homes cluster in the forest at all points 
of vantage. Some of these homes rival in pictureskuesness 
the famous palatial residences of our own Los Angeles, and all 
are surrounded by extensive and beautiful gardens. 
Aerial Traffic. 
The ground rents irom these residential lands more than 
suffice to keep tlie roads in excellent condition for motor traffic. 
Most of the residents use their own 'planes, but regular liners ply 
at frequent intervals. The views from the forest, including as 
they do the tree-clad hills with cultivated valleys, the fertile plain 
with suburbs dotted among trees and gardens, with the city itself 
shining in the clear air, the tree-lined arterial roads radiating out 
in many directions from the city, the distant view of shipping 
backed by the blue waters of the gulf, all combine to make an 
ineffaceable impression of beauty and productiveness. 
The commissioners were greatly struck with the fine situation 
of the mansions overlooking sucli fine sheets of water as Mill- 
brook and the Fleming Reservoir, surrounded as they arc by trees 
and gardens. The report grows almost lyrical in its description 
of the city, wdth its fine air, untainted by the reek of coal smoke 
through being supplied with exceedingly cheap firewood from the 
nearby State and civic forests. The report goes on to say: — The 
picturesqueness of the whole is enlianced by many sheets of water 
and pretty little waterfalls. The use of cheap cement dams along 
the streams has produced many small lakes and falls. Great 
supplies of underground waters have been tapped, especially along 
the* line of Fenners Fault, and these are being drawn upon by 
batteries of air motors installed at selected points. These give 
a service averaging 14 hours a day. raising the water to the highest 
reservoirs- Every valley has its truck gardens, and flourishing 
orchards of fruit trees line the slopes, the work being done by 
electric current derived from wind motors and streams. Since 
the formation of the forests, the streams run regularly all the 
