Page:Extracts from the letters and journals of George Fletcher Moore.djvu/99

 Rh object. No winter yet,—thermometer 62°,—fresh flowers springing up every day!

Aug. 1st.—The younger Mr. Burgess came this morning to tell me that his dogs had killed an old and young emu; I hurried off with all the ardour of a young sportsman to see them; the old one, when erect, is nearly seven feet high, and resembling the kangaroo, both being small and slender in the fore parts and heavy and strong in the hind quarters. This bird has a very gentle look, seems to feed entirely on grass, has no wings, and scarcely the indication of a pinion, for it is only six inches long, terminated by a small claw. The feathers are singular, two of them springing from one stem; the only long ones are in the tail; the colour is of a dark brown. I hope to send you some in a box, with other Australian curiosities. The young one is not unlike a gosling, with light coloured longitudinal stripes.

2nd.—An easterly wind prevails, and it has something of the sharp penetrating and drying quality which it has with you. Some complain of rheumatic tendency as a consequence of it: unaffected by it I have been rambling about on my back grounds without seeing any living thing except a solitary quail, which I did not shoot;—game frequents swampy land, and I have none such on my back ground. This easterly wind already causes a parched appearance in the soil. Thermometer 62°, yet I have had a fire all day.