flats, and in the grassy valleys of the Morumbidgee; and there are several
beautiful farms upon those of the Doomot. Generally speaking, the persons
who reside in those distant parts, pay little attention to the comfort of
their dwellings, or to the raising of more grain than their establishments
may require; but there can be no doubt this part of the interior ought to
be the granary of New South Wales; its climate and greater humidity being
more favourable than that of Sydney for the production of wheat.

PERIODICAL DROUGHTS; THE SEASONS AFFECTED BY THE MARSHES.

The most serious disadvantages under which the colony of New South Wales
labours, is in the drought to which it is periodically subject. Its
climate may be said to be too dry; in other respects it is one of the most
delightful under heaven; and experience of the certainty of the recurrence
of the trying seasons to which I allude, should teach men to provide
against their effects. Those seasons, during which no rain falls, appear,
from the observations of former writers, to occur every ten or twelve
years; and it is somewhat singular that no cause has been assigned for
such periodical visitations. Whether the state of the interior has
anything to do with them, and whether the wet or dry condition of the
marshes at all regulate the seasons, is a question upon which I will not
venture to give my decisive opinion. But most assuredly, when the interior
is dry, the seasons are dry, and VICE VERSA. Indeed, not only is this the
case, but rains, from excessive duration in the first year after a
drought, decrease gradually year after year, until they wholly cease for a
time. It seems not improbable, therefore, that the state of the interior
does, in some measure, regulate the fall of rain upon the eastern ranges,
which appears to decrease in quantity yearly as the marshes become
exhausted, and cease altogether, when they no longer contain any water. A
drought will naturally follow until such time as the air becomes