surcharged with clouds or vapour from the ocean, which being no longer
able to sustain their own weight, descend upon the mountains, and being
conveyed by hundreds of streams into the western lowlands, again fill the
marshes, and cause the recurrence of regular seasons.

TEMPERATURE OF THE CLIMATE.

The thermometer ranges during the summer months, that is, from September
to March, from 36 degrees to 106 degrees of Fahrenheit, but the mean
of the temperature during the above period is 70 degrees. The instrument
in the winter months ranges from 27 degrees to 98 degrees, with a mean of
66 degrees. However great the summer heat may appear, it is certain that
the climate of New South Wales has not the relaxing and enfeebling effect
upon the constitution, which renders a residence in India or other parts
of the south so intolerable. Neither are any of the ordinary occupations
of business or of pleasure laid aside at noon, or during the hottest part
of the day. The traveller may cast himself at length under the first tree
that invites him, and repose there as safely as if he were in a palace.
Fearless of damps, and unmolested by noxious insects, his sleep is as
sound as it is refreshing, and he rises with renewed spirits to pursue his
journey. Equally so may the ploughman or the labourer seek repose beside
his team, and allow them to graze quietly around him. The delicious
coolness of the morning and the mild temperature of the evening air, in
that luxurious climate, are beyond the power of description. It appears to
have an influence on the very animals, the horses and the cattle being
particularly docile; and I cannot but think it is is some degree the same
happy effect upon some of the hardened human beings who are sent thither
from the old world.

FRUITS.