mmon, as was the Pandanus; and the
Araucaria excelsa was found on the heights, both near the sea coast and
further inland.

CLIMATE. ITS HEALTHINESS.

I conceive the climate of North-western Australia to be one of the finest
in the world, and my reasons for thus thinking are grounded upon the
following circumstances.

PROOFS OF ITS SALUBRITY.

I was resident there from the beginning of the month of December 1837 to
the middle of the month of April 1838; a period of four months and a
half: and during the whole of this time the men under my command were
exposed to great hardships and privations. On one occasion three of us
slept in the open air without any covering or warm clothes for five
successive nights, during three of which we had constant showers of heavy
rain, and yet did not in any way suffer from this exposure.

Other detached parties were on various occasions subjected for a shorter
period to exposure of a similar nature, and no instance occurred of any
individual suffering in the least from it. One or two cases of slight
diarrhoea occurred, but they could be always traced to some food that had
been eaten the day before, and never were sufficiently violent to delay
us for a single hour.

Whilst this perfect freedom from disease existed amongst the party they
had not only to bear exposure of the nature above stated, but the
provisions with which I was enabled to supply them were sometimes very
insufficient for their wants. During the whole month of March and part of
April their daily full allowance of food was about 1 3/4 pounds of flour,
first made into dough and then baked in the form of a flat cake upon a
large stone.

This low diet, at the same time that they were compelled to work very
hard, naturally rendered some of them extremely weak, and several were,
on our return to the coast, in a very reduced state.

I should here state that we were (perhaps fortunately) unable to carry
more than one pint of brandy with us, hence no spirits were issued to the
men, and the non-appearance of diseases of an inflammatory nature may
perhaps in some measure be attributed to this circumstance.

The opinion of Captain Wickham, R.N. commanding H.M. ship Beagle, is
perfectly in accordance with my own. He was upon the coast at the same
time that we were, and in a letter to me writes thus: "Our cruise has
been altogether a fortunate one, as we have been enabled to examine the
whole coast from Cape Villaret to this p