88°;--with wet bulb, 72°.

3RD FEBRUARY.--High winds whistled among the trees this morning, and dark
clouds of stratus appeared in the sky. A substantial shower fell about 9
A.M., and the horizon was gradually shut in by clouds of nimbus. The high
wind had blown steadily from north both yesterday and this morning, and
in the same quarter a thunder cloud seemed busy. But when the rain began
to fall, the wind shifted to the S.W., from which quarter the rain seemed
to come. With it came a very peculiar smell, which I had noticed near
Mount Arapiles in 1836, about the time of the commencement of the rainy
weather there; and nothing could have been more welcome to us now, than
the prospect of rain, and the decided change in the temperature from 115°
to 73°. This was almost the first day during a month in which the air had
not been warmer than our blood; often had it been greater than fever
heat, so that 73° felt to us as cool as 50° would have been to a resident
of Sydney. Much rain did not fall at our camp, but it seemed that rain
was falling about the sources of the Bogan and other places at which a
supply of water was indispensable to enable us to proceed. At sunset,
glimpses of a clear sky appeared about the horizon, and during the night
the moon and stars came forth, and destroyed all hopes of more rain. We
were thankful, however, for the relief afforded by what had fallen, which
had lowered the temperature about 40 degrees, and enabled us to enjoy a
night of refreshing rest. Thermometer at sunrise, 85°; at noon, 80°; at 4
P.M., 73°; at 9, 68°;--with wet bulb, 67°.

4TH FEBRUARY.--The morning dawned in a most serene sky, with refreshing
breezes from the south, and the thermometer at 61°. This day we had
completed the repair of the wheels of half the drays. Many of the tire-
rings had been cut, rewelded, and again fixed and bolted on the wheels;
the wood of these having contracted so much in the intense heat, as to