he middle of
February, during which period, there were some strong gales from the
westward, between North-West and South-West accompanied by heavy rain,
thunder and lightning; but although there was a good deal of dirty
weather, it was by no means constant, as there were occasional intervals
of fine weather, with moderate westerly winds. This was the only bad
weather on this part of the coast, during the season, that could be said
to be caused by the westerly monsoon, if we except the East-South-East
squalls, that do not occur in the easterly monsoon.

While this weather lasted, the easterly squalls were quite suspended, and
the heavy bank of clouds that had generally been noticed in the
South-East had dispersed for the time; but after the strong westerly
winds had ceased, the weather was generally fine, and the wind mostly
from some western point; there were occasional showers, and the clouds in
the eastern horizon resumed their threatening appearance, bringing some
hard squalls, and rain from that quarter. In the middle of March (being
the time when equinoctial gales are looked for in most parts of the
world) there were two or three days of squally, unsettled weather, with
rain, that seemed to terminate the season of the westerly monsoon. After
the 1st of April, the weather was invariably fine, and the easterly
squalls had ceased to trouble us; land and seabreezes became regular, and
the easterly monsoon had no doubt set in to the northward; the strongest
breezes now were from South-East but, generally speaking, the winds were
very light near the land.

It does not appear that the westerly monsoon blows with any degree of
regularity, to the southward of the 13th degree of south latitude;
although for some degrees south of that, the weather is influenced by it,
and winds between West-North-West and South-West will be experienced, and
from the appearances on many parts of the coast, there are no doubt
strong gales at times from the westward, that send in a very heavy sea.
During the easterly monsoon, the weather is fine on the North-West coast,
particularly in the months of May, June, July, and August; this is
undoubtedly the best time for visiting it; land and seabreezes are
regular, and the temperature is very agreeable.

The average range of the thermometer on that part of the coast, between
the North-West Cape, and the meridian of 120 degrees east longitude,
during the above-mentioned period, was between 75 degree