ed after thirteen days' absence. Mr. Gregory has
made a short report of his journey to the Surveyor-General, from which we
have been kindly furnished with the following extract:--

While at the Geraldine Mine I availed myself of the circumstance of the
Murchison being in flood to ascend that river and complete the sketch of
the unexamined portions, as also to gain any additional information that
might facilitate the exploration of the country between this and the
Gascoyne River. The fact that the natives describe a considerable tract
of grassy country extending northward from the head of the Murchison,
plentifully supplied with water, was an additional incentive to ascertain
from whence the inundation came.

TROPICAL RAINY SEASON. GOOD PASTORAL COUNTRY.

Accompanied by Mr. S. Trigg, I proceeded up the river about 180 miles, at
which point it ceased to run; we then ascended a hill in the vicinity of
600 or 700 feet elevation above the plain, which I have since found to
be, beyond a doubt, Mount Murchison of Austin; unfortunately I was unable
to procure a copy of his map or journal, and was thus prevented from
laying out my route to the greatest advantage by pushing more to the
northward and going over more new ground. As it is, the only information
I have been able to gain, beyond completing the plan of the river, is
that the principal fall of rain had been eastward of the 116th degree of
longitude, and that the tract of country between the great South Bend and
Mount Murchison, which proved barely capable of supporting Mr. Austin's
small party of horses in November, 1854, is now yielding a pasture nearly
equal to the average of the Champion Bay district, and in some parts most
luxuriant, the grass having scarcely arrived at maturity was perfectly
green; this remarkable change in the character of the country is, I am
inclined to think, not entirely confined to this year in particular, but
that from meteorological causes this district has not unfrequently the
benefit of tropical rains falling during the months of January and
February, although not always in sufficient quantity to cause the river
to flow as low as the settled districts.

It has already been observed by many persons that during the summer
months the prevailing sea breezes divide the northerly currents of vapour
about 100 miles inland from the west coast, preventing the rain from
falling throughout the same parallel of latitude.

As near the eastern limit