Page:Extracts from the letters and journals of George Fletcher Moore.djvu/161

 Rh which Furlong gave me is a source of great amusement to me. The botanists here say, that though our grasses resemble many of the British sorts, there is some slight characteristic difference in each; but such is the similarity, that I am justified in asserting that there are here several species of Poa, and we have the Holcus, and Avena. Thirty species have been enumerated on no very extensive space.

11th.—I have heard that a vessel was about to sail for Van Diemen's Land and take a mail, as I sat down beside a party who were talking despondingly about the want of flour, and of cattle, neglect of servants, and many other désagremens of this kind.

I have frequently spoken of the climate. I think it the very beau idéal of one. We are now in the hottest month of the year, enjoying a delicious breeze, with the thermometer at 77°. It is true that when there is neither breeze nor cloud to darken the sun's noontide rays, the heat is very great; but this is not often the case. Since March last, the imagination could not conceive more delicious weather, the time of year considered. The Egyptian has arrived, and brought tidings of joy to many a family here, and many a beloved member has joined the emigre's who had preceded them; but where, oh where are my friends? I often ask myself, am I ever to see you again?—Farewell! G. F. M.