, is in the drought to which it is periodically subject.
Its climate may be said to be too dry; in other respects it is one of
the most delightful under heaven; and experience of the certainty of
the recurrence of the trying seasons to which I allude, should teach
men to provide against their effects. Those seasons, during which no
rain falls, appear, from the observations of former writers, to occur
every ten or twelve years; and it is somewhat singular that no cause
has been assigned for such periodical visitations. Whether the state of
the interior has anything to do with them, and whether the wet or dry
condition of the marshes at all regulate the seasons, is a question
upon which I will not venture to give my decisive opinion. But most
assuredly, when the interior is dry, the seasons are dry, and VICE
VERSA. Indeed, not only is this the case, but rains, from excessive
duration in the first year after a drought, decrease gradually year
after year, until they wholly cease for a time. It seems not
improbable, therefore, that the state of the interior does, in some
measure, regulate the fall of rain upon the eastern ranges, which
appears to decrease in quantity yearly as the marshes become exhausted,
and cease altogether, when they no longer contain any water. A drought
will naturally follow until such time as the air becomes surcharged
with clouds or vapour from the ocean, which being no longer able to
sustain their own weight, descend upon the mountains, and being
conveyed by hundreds of streams into the western lowlands, again fill
the marshes, and cause the recurrence of regular seasons.

TEMPERATURE OF THE CLIMATE.

The thermometer ranges during the summer months, that is, from
September to March, from 36 degrees to 106 degrees of Fahrenheit, but
the mean of the temperature during the above period is 70 degrees. The
instrument in the winter months ranges from 27 degrees to 98 degrees,
with a mean of 66 degrees. However great the summer heat may appear, it
is certain that the climate of New South Wales has not the relaxing and
enfeebling effect upon the constitution, which renders a residence in
India or other parts of the south so intolerable. Neither are any of
the ordinary occupations of business or of pleasure laid aside at noon,
or during the hottest part of the day. The traveller may cast himself
at length under the first tree that invites him, and repose there as
safely as if he were in a palace. Fearless o