SOUTH AUSTRALIA. Recent- legislation has rendered this name a misnomer by extending the boundaries of the so as to include the entire center of the Australian continent comprised between the Southern and the Indian oceans, and beAveen the 129th and the 141st degrees of e. long —an area of 914,730 sq. miles.
C otracter of the Snit, etc.—The northern portion of this vest territory enjoys an abun dant rainfalLand is watered by numerous streams and rivers, some of them, as the Vic toria and the Adelaide, navigable for a considerable distance by ships of burden. The soil Is fertile. and suitable for the cultivation of tropical productions of every description. In connection with the construction of the overland telegraph across the center of the Australian continent, this region has become better known as being suitable for settle ment, already commenced.
The great central region opened up by the explorations of Stuart and McKinley, and the country to the n. of lat. 33' may be described as slated only for pastoral purposes on a*ootrnt-of the irregularity of the rainfall and the scarcity Of permanent water; and with the exeepeion of a few pitches along the coast the same description will apply to the country to the westward of gulf St. Vincent, in 138° e. long. The south-eastern division of the colony. comprised 33° and the Southern ocean, and between gulf St. Vincent and the eastern boundarAof the colony, includes every variety of soil, ranging from absolute sterility to the highlka, degree of fertility, great portion of it being probably unsurdusted by any region in its adaptability both in soil and climate for the growth of wheat, the vine, and the olive. This region is moderately timbered, the principal varie ties being the gum, the stringy bark, mid the pine, all extremely useful for fencing and building purposes.
Climette.—X country extending over 27° of latitude must necessarily embrace great varieties of temperature; but the climate, owing to prevailing aridity, appears to be, upon the whole, healthy and remarkably free from epidemic diseases. The average
annual mortality (Wittig 10 years has been found, in the settled districts, to he 15 per 1000 as compared with 22 per 1000 in England. Nearly half of the deaths arc those of children. The hottest months are December, January, February, and March. During these months hot winds occasionally blow. But the same dryness of the air which accounts for the great exaltation of the temperature, renders it more endurable than might at first be supposed, and Europeans are able in the hottest weather to carry on harvest labor without danger. Careful observations, taken in the agricultural part of the colony (i.e., s. of lat. 33°), and extending over a series of years, show the intim tem perature during the four hot months to average 73.60°, and during the eight cold months 55.3', the extreme range being from 117' to 32'. The rainfall in the n., or purely pas toral district, is as low as 7.947 in.; while in the s., or agricultural district, it averages as much as 48.59 inches.
Physical surface of the country alternates between open plains and wooded ranges of moderate elevation, which inclose many;heautifill aim fertile valleys. The principal ranges are the Flinders range, which trends uorthward from the e. coast of Spencer gulf to the neighborhood of hike Torrens, in hit. 30°, where it branches out into uumerons spurs; and the Mount Lofty range, running nearly parallel with gulf St. Vincent from its head-water in lat. 34' to its ternfinatiou at cape Jarvis. The Mount Lofty ranges rise to a height of about 2,600 ft., running about n.e. and s.w.. having a breadth of over 15 miles. This district abounds in picturesqne scenery, the summits being well wooded and the slopes of great beauty and fertility, affording eligible build ing-sites, and producing in the highest 'perfection many English fruits and vegetables, which fail to thrive on time hotter and more arid soil of the plains.