Sunday, 23rd June, 1861.--All hands at home. I am so weak as to be
incapable of crawling out of the mia-mia. King holds out well, but
Mr. Burke finds himself weaker every day.

Monday, 24th June, 1861.--A fearful night. At about an hour before
sunset, a southerly gale sprung up and continued throughout the
greater portion of the night; the cold was intense, and it seemed
as if one would be shrivelled up. Towards morning it fortunately
lulled a little, but a strong cold breeze continued till near
sunset, after which it became perfectly calm.

King went out for nardoo in spite of the wind, and came in with a
good load; but he himself terribly cut up. He says that he can no
longer keep up the work, and as he and Mr. Burke are both getting
rapidly weaker, we have but a slight chance of anything but
starvation, unless we can get hold of some blacks.

Tuesday, 25th June, 1861.--Night calm, clear and intensely cold,
especially towards morning. Near daybreak, King reported seeing a
moon in the east, with a haze of light stretching up from it; he
declared it to be quite as large as the moon, and not dim at the
edges. I am so weak that any attempt to get a sight of it was out
of the question; but I think it must have been Venus in the
Zodiacal Light that he saw, with a corona around her.

26th.--Mr. Burke and King remain at home cleaning and pounding
seed; they are both getting weaker every day; the cold plays the
deuce with us, from the small amount of clothing we have: my
wardrobe consists of a wide-awake, a merino shirt, a regatta shirt
without sleeves, the remains of a pair of flannel trousers, two
pairs of socks in rags, and a waistcoat, of which I have managed to
keep the pockets together. The others are no better off. Besides
these, we have between us, for bedding, two small camel pads, some
horse-hair, two or three little bits of rag, and pieces of
oil-cloth saved from the fire.

The day turned out nice and warm.

Wednesday, 27th June, 1861.--Calm night; sky overcast with hazy
cumulostratus clouds; an easterly breeze sprung up towards morning,
making the air much colder. After sunrise there were indications of
a clearing up of the sky, but it soon clouded in again, the upper
current continuing to move in an easterly direction, whilst a
breeze from the north and north-east blew pretty regularly
throughout the day. Mr. Burke and King are preparing to go up the
creek in search of the blacks; they will leave me some