without any danger of fermentation. During many days I had anxiously
watched the smoky red hot sky for some appearance of rain: no dew
nourished the grass, which had become quite yellow, and the river upon
which I set my hopes was rapidly drying up. In my tent the thermometer
generally reached 100 degrees of Fahrenheit during the day. At length the
welcome sound of thunder was heard, and dark clouds cooled the atmosphere
long before sunset. These clouds at length poured a heavy shower on the
yawning earth; flakes of ice or hail accompanied it, and we enjoyed a
cool draught of iced water, where the air had just before been nearly as
warm as the blood.

In emptying the water out of the sunken boat we found a crayfish
resembling those which I had seen in the freshwater lagoons about Lake
George; the remains of this crustacean were also abundant there, at
places where water had been but very temporarily lodged.*

(Footnote. A species of Astacus, which, as far as I am aware, comes very
close to the common European crayfish.)

PACK UP THE BOATS, AND CONTINUE THE JOURNEY.

We dismantled our boats, packing up the canvas, and in the hollow of a
large tree I buried my collection of geological specimens, that we might
be loaded as lightly as possible.

December 31.

Quitting this spot at seven A.M. we continued on a bearing of 20 degrees
west of north, and passed through a scrub of Acacia pendula, in which
grew some eucalypti. At two and three-quarter miles we entered on a