[Look at the journal which describes the expedition in search of the river,said to exist to the southward of Rose Hill.At the time we felt that extraordinary degree of cold were not more than six miles south west of Rose Hill,and about nineteen miles from the the sea coast.
When I mentioned this circumstance to colonel Gordon,at the Cape of Good Hope,he wondered at it;and owned,that,in his excursions into the interior parts of Africa,he had never experienced anything to match it:he attributed its production to large beds of nitre,which he said must exist in the neighbourhood.]
December 27th 1790.Wind NNW;it felt like the blast of a heated oven,and in proportion as it increased the heat was found to be more intense,the sky hazy,the sun gleaming through at intervals.
At 9a.m.85degrees At noon 104
Half past twelve 1071/2
From one p.m.until 20
minutes past two 1081/2
At 20minutes past two 109
At Sunset 89
At 11p.m.781/2
[By a large Thermometer made by Ramsden,and graduated on Fahrenheit's scale.]
December 28th.
At 8a.m.86
10a.m.93
11a.m.101
At noon 1031/2
Half an hour past noon 1041/2
At one p.m.102
At 5p.m.73
At sunset 691/2
[At a quarter past one,it stood at only 89degrees,having,from a sudden shift of wind,fallen 13degrees in 15minutes.]
My observations on this extreme heat,succeeded by so rapid a change,were that of all animals,man seemed to bear it best.Our dogs,pigs and fowls,lay panting in the shade,or were rushing into the water.
I remarked that a hen belonging to me,which had sat for a fortnight,frequently quitted her eggs,and shewed great uneasiness,but never remained from them many minutes at one absence;taught by instinct that the wonderful power in the animal body of generating cold in air heated beyond a certain degree,was best calculated for the production of her young.The gardens suffered considerably.All the plants which had not taken deep root were withered by the power of the sun.
No lasting ill effects,however,arose to the human constitution.
A temporary sickness at the stomach,accompanied with lassitude and headache,attacked many,but they were removed generally in twenty-four hours by an emetic,followed by an anodyne.During the time it lasted,we invariably found that the house was cooler than the open air,and that in proportion as the wind was excluded,was comfort augmented.
But even this heat was judged to be far exceeded in the latter end of the following February,when the north-west wind again set in,and blew with great violence for three days.At Sydney,it fell short by one degree of what I have just recorded:but at Rose Hill,it was allowed,by every person,to surpass all that they had before felt,either there or in any other part of the world.Unluckily they had no thermometer to ascertain its precise height.It must,however,have been intense,from the effects it produced.An immense flight of bats driven before the wind,covered all the trees around the settlement,whence they every moment dropped dead or in a dying state,unable longer to endure the burning state of the atmosphere.Nor did the 'perroquettes',though tropical birds,bear it better.The ground was strewn with them in the same condition as the bats.
Were I asked the cause of this intolerable heat,I should not hesitate to pronounce that it was occasioned by the wind blowing over immense deserts,which,I doubt not,exist in a north-west direction from Port Jackson,and not from fires kindled by the natives.This remark I feel necessary,as there were methods used by some persons in the colony,both for estimating the degree of heat and for ascertaining the cause of its production,which I deem equally unfair and unphilosophical.The thermometer,whence my observations were constantly made,was hung in the open air in a southern aspect,never reached by the rays of the sun,at the distance of several feet above the ground.
My other remarks on the climate will be short.It is changeable beyond any other I ever heard of;but no phenomena sufficiently accurate to reckon upon,are found to indicate the approach of alteration.
Indeed,for the first eighteen months that we lived in the country,changes were supposed to take place more commonly at the quartering of the moon than at other times.But lunar empire afterwards lost its credit.
For the last two years and a half of our residing at Port Jackson,its influence was unperceived.Three days together seldom passed without a necessity occurring for lighting a fire in an evening.
A 'habit d'ete',or a 'habit de demi saison',would be in the highest degree absurd.Clouds,storms and sunshine pass in rapid succession.Of rain,we found in general not a sufficiency,but torrents of water sometimes fall.
Thunder storms,in summer,are common and very tremendous,but they have ceased to alarm,from rarely causing mischief.Sometimes they happen in winter.I have often seen large hailstones fall.
Frequent strong breezes from the westward purge the air.These are almost invariably attended with a hard clear sky.The easterly winds,by setting in from the sea,bring thick weather and rain,except in summer,when they become regular sea-breezes.The 'aurora australis' is sometimes seen,but is not distinguished by superior brilliancy.
To sum up:notwithstanding the inconveniences which I have enumerated,I will venture to assert in few words,that no climate hitherto known is more generally salubrious,or affords more days on which those pleasures which depend on the state of the atmosphere can be enjoyed,than that of New South Wales.The winter season is particularly delightful.
[To this cause,I ascribe the great number of births which happened,considering the age and other circumstances,of many of the mothers.
Women who certainly would never have bred in any other climate here produced as fine children as ever were born.]
The leading animal production is well known to be the kangaroo.
