Meteorological remarks.--It would be rather premature for me to
offer any opinion on the climate of Cooper's Creek on so short a
stay, and my other duties have prevented me from making any
observations that would be worth forwarding in detail. I may
mention, however, that neither on the creek, nor during the journey
up, have we experienced any extreme temperatures: the heat,
although considerably greater here than in Melbourne, as shown by a
thermometer, is not felt more severely by us. The maximum daily
temperatures since our arrival on Cooper's Creek have generally
exceeded 100 degrees; the highest of all was registered on November
27th at Camp 63, when the thermometer stood at 109 degrees in the
shade. There was at that time a strong wind from the north, which
felt rather warm, but had not the peculiar characteristics of a hot
wind. One of the most noticeable features in the weather has been
the well-marked regularity in the course of the wind, which almost
invariably blew lightly from the east or south-east soon after
sunrise, went gradually round to north by two o'clock, sometimes
blowing fresh from that quarter, followed the sun to west by
sunset, and then died away or blew gently from the south throughout
the night. A sudden change took place yesterday, December 14th; the
day had been unusually hot, temperature of air at one P.M. 106
degrees, at which time cirrocumulus clouds began to cross the sky
from north-west, and at two P.M. the wind sprang up in the
south-west, blowing with great violence (force 6); it soon shifted
to south, increasing in force to (7) and sometimes (8); it
continued to blow from the same quarter all night, and has not yet
much abated. Once during the night it lulled for about an hour, and
then commenced again; it is now (four P.M.) blowing with a force of
(5) from south by east, with a clear sky. Before the wind had