Page:History of New South Wales from the records, Volume 1.djvu/272

 16^ PHILLIP 1791 July. TsnobtDd Dawwon their last expedition. A winter Frozen kangaroo. Review. They did not succeed in finding anything better than, a salt-water creek running into Botany Bay, and on its banks they passed a miserable night from want of water to qaench their thirst ; for as they believed that they were going to a river they "thought it needless to march with full canteens.** The most noticeable event on this occasion was the extra- ordinary degree of cold experienced on the road, when they were six miles south-west of Rose Hill. Tench's descrip- tion of the scene is of sufficient interest to deserve quota- tion : — The sun arose in unclouded splendour, and presented to our sight a novel and picturesque view ; the contigaouB country as white as if covered with snow, contrasted with the foliage of trees flourishing in the verdure of tropical luxuriance. Even the exhalation which steamed from the lake beneath contributed to heighten the beauty of the scene. Nothing but demonstration could have convinced me that so severe a degree of cold ever existed in this low latitude. Drops of water on a tin-pot, not altogether out of the influence of the fire, were frozen into solid ice in less than twelve minutes. Part of a leg of kangaroo, which we had roasted for supper, was frozen quite hard, all the juices of it being converted into ice. On those ponds which were near the surface of the earth, the covering of ice was very thick ; but on those which were lower down, it was found to be less so in pro- portion to their depression ; and wherever the water was twelve feet below the surface (which happened to be the case close to U8)> it was uncougealed.'^ Such is the history of exploration during Phillip's time. The narrative of his little excursions may provoke a smile at the present day, when contrasted with the exploits of later explorers who succeeded in crossing the continent from north to south and from east to west, in face of all the diffi- culties and dangers presented by mountain ranges, sandy deserts, flooded rivers, and sometimes hostile savages. There is no more comparison between Phillip^s achievements and theirs, in one sense, than there is between a harbour excur- Digitized by Google
 * Complete Account, p. 130.