of junction, as I had reason to expect, a deep pool of water.  Once more therefore we could encamp, especially as two very large ponds on a rocky bed were found a little lower than that water first discovered.  This element was daily becoming more precious in our estimation, and I had reason to be very anxious about it, on account of Mr. Finch, who was following in our track.  The spot on which we encamped was covered with rich grass, and enclosed by shady casuarinae and thick brush.  The prospect of two days’ repose for the cattle on that verdure, and under these shades, was most refreshing to us all.  It was, indeed, a charming spot, enlivened by numbers of pigeons, and the songs of little birds, in strange, but very pleasing notes.

Here I again remarked that among these casuarinae scrubs the eucalyptus, so common in the colony, was only to be seen near water; so that its white shining bark and gnarled branches, while they reminded us of home at Sydney, also marked out the spots for fixing our nightly home in the bush.

EXCESSIVE HEAT AND DROUGHT.

January 7.

The night had been unusually hot, the thermometer having stood at 90 degrees, and there had not been a breath of wind.  Few of the men had slept.  Thus even night, which had previously afforded us some protection from our great enemy, the heat, no longer relieved us from its effects; and this incessant high temperature which weakened the cattle, dried up the waters, destroyed our wheels, and nourished the fires that covered the country with smoke, made humidity appear to us the very essence of existence, and water almost an object of adoration.  No disciple of Zoroaster could have made proselytes of us.  The thermometer ranged from 96 to 101 degrees during the day, and during the last five nights had stood as high as 90 degrees between sunset and sunrise.  From the time the party left Sydney rain had fallen on only one day.  We left each friendly waterhole in the greatest uncertainty whether we should ever drink again, and it may be imagined with what interest, under such circumstances, I watched the progress of a cloudy sky.  It was not uncommon for the heavens to be overcast, but the clouds seemed to consist more of smoke than moist vapour.  The wind, from the time of our first arrival in the country, had blown from the north or north-west, and the bent of trees, at all exposed, showed that these were the prevailing winds.

DESCRIPTION OF THE WOODS.

The country when seen from an eminence appeared to be very generally wooded, but the lower parts were perfectly clear, or thinly strewed with bushes, and slender trees, chiefly varieties of acacia.  The principal wood consisted of casuarinae which grew in thick clumps, or scrubs, and very much impeded, as has already been stated, our progress in any given direction.  I found that these scrubs of casuarinae grew generally on rising grounds, and chiefly on their northern or eastern slopes.  We saw little of