partial success; for it is not easy to convert aridity into a garden; and if I may judge by the refined taste of many in the choice of a garden border, it would almost seem that an appreciation of the beauties of nature had succumbed by the tendency of emigration, to a higher estimation of art. A profusion of inverted ale and porter bottles, in every style of geometrical embellishment, leaves an impression of rural simplicity in the impartial beholder, and at the same time imbues him with a lively illustration of both the thirstiness of the soil and inhabitants.

The future of this noble city, in common with the rest of the colony, will probably approximate to the opinions expressed by one of their own newspapers; and I cannot more appropriately close this chapter, than by giving their own estimate of the colony and its prospects, which, coming from such disinterested authority, will have due weight with the unprejudiced. The South Australian Advertizer gave lately the following graphic description of the fair city:-"The depression of trade is now the only topic of consequence; even the eternal weather gives up the palm to the more engrossing topic. The stillness of the streets is really quite appalling; to look along the leading thoroughfares of the city is enough to cast a gloom over the most buoyant spirit. Few of the shops have any customers in them; the Exchange is absolutely deserted, and should a solitary visitor stroll therein, he is startled by the echo of his own footsteps, as it breaks in upon the silence of that commercial sepulchre. Nor is it only that affairs are dull at the present moment; the fact is, very little confidence is reposed in the future, and men, who, for years past, have refused to confess to a single misgiving, now begin ominously to shake their heads, and wistfully to throw glances in the direction of the other colonies."

CHAPTER VII.

AMUSEMENTS.

THE word amusement is perhaps not exactly applicable to the attempted relaxations of the colonists. The salubrious climate is not particularly conducive to the exercise of those robust sports which are so popular in England. Notwithstanding the trifling drawback offered by the climate, there are to be found in Adelaide those spirits who sigh for the games which have become national at home, and who even endeavour to produce their shadows in South Australia.

The fine game of cricket has its admirers, and a few young men attempted this animating sport, but it requires some physical energy to go through the exertions of a game, with the liability of having the thermometer ranging from 90° to 117° in the shade, and a profusion of hot sand and dust blowing into the faces of the players. One day I passed a party of cricketers who had accidentally appointed one of the hottest days of the season for an exhibition of their prowess, and their game reminded me of Jingle's description of cricket playing in the West Indies, with one trifling exception, that Jingle's friends had the advantage of having their sable appendages to run after the ball, whilst in South Australia (with a hotter climate), the perspiring and exhausted players had both the work and play at the same time. They have races once a year near Adelaide, which probably would be very interesting, if, as a rule, you could see the horses that win, but it has often happened that the dust has occurred to such an extent,

that this critical point has been left in doubt, at least to the spectators, for a few seconds, until the clouds of thick dust have passed away.

They use the magniloquent expressions of the St. Leger and the Derby, although the mighty stakes may not exceed what is subscribed for an enterprising donkey race at home, but to prevent disappointment to a cavilling public, they generally wind up with the "Consolation Stakes," of a trifling amount, for horses that never won a race, which is sure to be well patronised. There is a theatre in Adelaide which is sometimes opened during the winter months, but it is not well attended, as many who really like theatrical amusements, and have been accustomed to well-regulated theatres, are apt to be thoroughly disgusted by a visit to a place where the acting is of a very poor description, and the audience sometimes behave in a manner that would disgrace the mob of the lowest resort in Europe. Many have visited the theatre a few times after arriving in the colony, but owing to the brutality of the gods, and the coarse vulgarity of many of the habitues of the pit, have left in disgust.

Now and then a good musician wends his way to Adelaide, but usually he is only too happy to depart in peace, minus a small amount of cash; for unless merit is accompanied with perfect effrontery and unblushing charlatanism, the Adelaide public are not at all satisfied to disburse any of their beloved cash for such amusements, remembering that cash is scarce and interest high. A Pianist who, on attempting Thalberg, was heard with partial indifference, electrified his refined audience with Willikins and his Dinah, with variations, A German gentleman, of versatile musical talents, who was principally distinguished as a cornet player, might have

long sighed in vain for a paying audience, if, in a lucky moment, he had not made the ingenious discovery of a new instrument, which, in honour of the colony, he called a bush piano. This interesting piece of mechanism resembled to the uninitiated a piece of deal board, which, by the application of thin sticks, ornamented with bone, adroitly applied, emitted excruciating sounds that amazed and delighted his classical hearers.

In addition to the extreme improbability of obtaining cash, there is another reason that no artiste of any eminence, who should be so unfortunate as to visit any of the Australian colonies in hopes of gain, ought to avoid South Australia. The criticisms of the press on their performances (generally supposed to be written by precocious colonial young gentlemen, elected to the office by their total ignorance of the subjects they comment on) are either absurdly eulogistic or extremely nonsensical or flippant.

A gentleman with a deep bass voice (Mr. Farquarson) is characterized; his trumpet tones were heard to great advantage. A Tenor is requested not to make such painful efforts to enunciate the higher notes, and afterwards is reminded that he apparently has mistaken his vocation. A Pianist's excessive manipulation made the strings thrill with harmony, and on another occasion he awoke the strings to rapture. Another Piano Player who had studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London, and really possessed talent, and who for a time at least was compelled to sacrifice himself through family circumstances in this Musical "Slough of Despond," was informed that in the course of a few years, by systematic study, he might attain a mastery over the instrument. A prima donna is

requested to be more particular in the execution of her chromatic passages, and endeavour to carry out the ideas of the composer. Another gentleman with a profusion of hair, and the smallest amount of musical knowledge, supposed to be a pupil of Mendelssohn, but, in reality, the produce of an isolated town on the borders of Continental civilization, where the magic name of that composer had hardly penetrated, who could not play, owing to all his faculties being devoted to the object of teaching others what he could not do himself; tried to perpetrate some simple accompaniments with a lamentable want of taste and style, and was criticized by Jeames as a player evidently of a high order, although Jeames had no opportunity of judging on that occasion.

If the fine arts do not flourish and their professors waste their sweetness on the desert air, other exhibitions are eminently successful, as evincing the tendency of amusements which a free and enlightened populace ought to direct their attention. The exhibition of a stuffed alligator, or the apparition of a fat boy, finds numerous and eager gazers. A mass of unshapen flesh is irresistibly attractive to an intelligent population, and our fat friend wins a golden harvest by having the misfortune to weigh twenty-one stones. An acquaintance of mine who went to see this prodigy of nature, informed me that it was most disgusting and abominable the manner in which some of the South Australian pleasure seekers examind this youth of plethoric habit. A prize ox could not have been subject to more indignities than this unfortunate youth. A secondrate circus is also a luxury to the many, especially to those of a pious turn of mind, who can visit the circus while anathematizing the theatre, and by this