doubt, from the
facts I have detailed, that the season, during which this expedition was
undertaken, was one of unusual dryness; but although the arid state of
the country contributed so much to prevent its movements, I question
whether, under opposite circumstances, it would have been possible to
have pushed so far as the party succeeded in doing. Certainly, if the
ground had been kept in a state of constant saturation, travelling would
have been out of the question; for the rain of July abundantly proved how
impracticable any attempt to penetrate it under such circumstances would
have been.

It is difficult to say what kind of seasons prevail in Central Australia.
That low region does not, as far as I can judge, appear to be influenced
by tropical rains, but rather to be subject to sudden falls. That the
continent of Australia was at one time more humid than it now is, appears
to be an admitted fact; the marks of floods, and the violence of torrents
(none of which have been witnessed), are mentioned by every explorer as
traceable over every part of the continent; but no instance of any
general inundation is on record: on the contrary the seasons appear to be
getting drier and drier every year, and the slowness with which any body
exposed to the air decomposes, would argue the extreme absence of
moisture in the atmosphere. It will be remembered that one of my bullocks
died in the Pine Forest when I was passing through it in December, 1844.
In July, 1845, when Mr. Piesse was on his route home from the Depot in
charge of the home returning party, he passed by the spot where this
animal had fallen; and, in elucidation of what I have stated, I will here
give the extract of a letter I subsequently received from him from India.
Speaking of the humidity of the climate of Bengal, he says: "It appears
to me that heat alone is rather a preservative from decomposition; of
which I recollect an instance, in the bullock that died in the march
through the Pine scrub on the 1st of January, 1845. When I passed by the
spot in the following July, the carcase was dried up like a mummy, and
was in such a perfect state of preservation as to be easily recognised."

No stronger proof, I apprehend, could have been adduced of the dryness of
the atmosphere in that part of the interior, or more corroborative of the
intensity of heat there during the interval referred to; but the singular
and unusual effects it had on ourselves, and on every thing