rest the
truth.

January 85 106 1/2 70
February 79 94 71
March 77 103 1/2 68 1/2
April 67 1/2 85 55 1/2
May 62 76 53
June 58 67 49
July 55 60 49
August 59 68 52
September 61 72 1/2 55 1/2
October 68 1/2 94 1/2 55
November 74 94 59
December 83 100 68

The west and south-west winds are the most prevalent, blowing for 130 or
140 days in the year. During the summer months the land and sea breezes
prevail along the coast, but in the interior the wind generally commences
at E.N.E., and going round with the sun settles at west in the afternoon.

I need not point out to the reader, that the above table only shews the
mean of the thermometer during a certain hour of the day; the temperature
during the night must necessarily be much lower; the coolness of the
night, indeed, generally speaking, makes up for the mid-day heat. There
are some days of the year when hot winds prevails, which are certainly
very disagreeable, if not trying. Their occurrence, however, is not
frequent, and will be easily accounted for from natural causes. They
sometimes continue for three or more days, during which time clouds of
dust fill the air, and whirlwinds cross the plains, but the dryness of
the Australian atmosphere considerably influences the feelings on such
occasions, and certainly produces a different effect upon the system from
that which would be produced at a much lower temperature in a more humid
climate; for, no doubt, it is to the united effects of heat and moisture,
where they more or less exist, that the healthiness or unhealthiness of a
country may be ascribed. In such countries, generally speaking, either
teaming vapours, or malaria from dense woods or swamps naturally tries
the constitution, but to its extreme dryness, and the absence of all
vegetable decay, it appears to me that the general salubrity of
South-east Australia is to be attributed. So rarified, indeed, is the
atmosphere, that it causes an elasticity of spirits unknown in a heavier
temperature. So the hot winds, of which I have been speaking, are not
felt in the degree we should be led to suppose. Like the air the spirits
are buoyant and light, and it is for its disagreeableness at the time,
not any after effects that a hot wind is to be dreaded. It is hot, and
that is all you can say;