ing.
Thermometer, 68 deg.. This day we selected from the herds of Mr. Kerr 32
young bullocks, and they were immediately yoked up in the stockyard.
Received letters from Sydney, by Corporal Graham.
31ST DECEMBER, 1845.--Thermometer at 5 A. M., 62 deg.: at noon, 109 deg.. Wind
S.E. At noon a whirlwind passed over the camp, fortunately avoiding the
tents in its course; but it carried a heavy tarpaulin into the air, also
some of the men's hats, and broke a half-hour sand-glass, much wanted for
the men on watch at night. The sky overcast from the west in the evening.
1ST JANUARY, 1846.--A strong wind from N.E. blew during the day, and was
very high at 11 A. M. The party were chiefly employed breaking in the
young bullocks. At noon, nimbus, and some rain, tantalised us with the
hope of a change; but the sky drew up into clouds of cumulus by the
evening. The vegetation of the Bogan now recalled former labours: the
ATRIPLEX SEMIBACCATA of Brown was a common straggling plant.
2D JANUARY.--The young cattle still occasioned delay. The morning was
cloudy and promised rain; but a N.W. wind broke through the clouds, which
resolved themselves into cirrostratus, and we had heat again. Besides the
SALSOLA AUSTRALIS, we found a HALGANIA with lilac flowers, probably
distinct from the species hitherto described, which are natives of the
south-west coast.
3D JANUARY.--This morning the young cattle were yoked up with the old;
and, after considerable delay, the party proceeded to some ponds in the
Bogan about five miles lower down. We were now nearly opposite to the
scene of Mr. Cunningham's disasters: I had recognised, amongst the first
hills I saw when on the Goobang Creek, the hill which I had named Mount
Juson, at his request, after the maiden name of his mother. The little
pyramid of bushes was no longer there, but the name of Cunningham was so
identified with the botanical history of almost all the shrubs in the
very peculiar scenery of that part of the country, that no other monument
seemed necessary. Other recollections recalled Cunningham to my mind; his
barbarous murder, and the uncertainty which still hung over the actual
circumstances attending it. The shrubs told indeed of Cunningham; of both
brothers, both now dead; but neither the shrubs named by the one, nor the
gloomy CASUARINOE trees that had witnessed the bloody deed, could tell
more. There the ACACIA PENDULA, first discovered and described by Allan,
could only
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