his journey. Now this was the first country in which we had any reason
to dread wet weather, since we crossed the Culgoa about the beginning of
April. Here rain would render the ground impassable, and inundate the
country. The mercury in the barometer was falling, and so was the rain.
Thermometer, at sunrise, 61 deg.; at noon, 62 deg.; at 4 P.M., 57 deg.; at 9, 53 deg.;--
with wet bulb, 53 deg..

21ST NOVEMBER.--The wind had shifted from E. to S. W., and the rain had
set in,--to proceed was quite impossible. The coolness of a cloudy day
rendered the tent much more agreeable and convenient for finishing maps
in, than one under the extremely hot sunshine which mine had been
recently exposed to so long at St. George's Bridge. I had now, therefore,
a good opportunity of completing the maps. The great heat which had
prevailed during so many successive days there, portended some such
change as this; and we were thus likely to be caught in that very region
so subject to inundation, which I was formerly so careful to avoid, that
I endeavoured to travel so as to be within reach of a hilly country. For
that reason chiefly I had proceeded into the interior, by the circuitous
route of Fort Bourke.

21ST NOVEMBER TO 7TH DECEMBER.--The sky resembled that in Poussin's
picture of the Deluge; and to one who had contended a whole year with
scarcity of water, in regions where this coming supply had so long been
due, the reflection would often occur, that this rain, if it had fallen a
year sooner, might have expedited that journey very much indeed; whereas
it was now very likely to retard the return of the party. This was the
only spot where such a rain could have seriously impeded our progress;
the waters of the great rivers were sure to come down, and we had still
to traverse extensive low tracts, where, in 1831, I had seen the marks of
floods on trees, which had left an impression still remaining on my mind,
that I thought it very desirable then, to get my party safe out of these
flats as soon as possible.

On the 28th November, or eight days after the rains set in, the Mooni
waters came down, at first slowly, but gradually filling up the channel,
until they rose to such a height, as to oblige me to move three of the
drays. During the night, the rising inundation began to spread over the
lower parts of the surface back from the river; while the current came
down with such rapidity, and, judging from marks of former inundations on
the