Page:Narrative of a Visit to the Australian Colonies.djvu/162

126 Launceston, to buy himself a saw, and obtain a work-mate, but he stopped at the first public-house he came to, spent £18 that he had saved, and ran into debt several pounds more. The overseer found him at this place, on his return, and brought him back without saw or mate; and from the effect of continued inebriation, he was in danger of perishing from cold which they had to endure on the way.—Cases similar to this are not uncommon in the Australian Colonies.

22nd. We took leave of our kind friends at the Hampshire Hills, and accompanied by G. Robson and J. Milligan, proceeded to Chilton.—Heavy rain fell, and the cold became so great, that we were glad to retire to bed early, for protection from the piercing wind.—By a register kept by my friend Joseph Milligan, of the quantity of rain that fell at the Hampshire Hills, from 1835, to 1839, the mean annual quantity appeared to be upwards of 67 inches. In 1837, it exceeded 80 inches. The greatest fall in one day in the five years, was upwards of 4 inches.

23rd. George Robson returned, and the rest of our company proceeded to Burleigh, another of the Company's stations. Notwithstanding it was summer, and large patches of ground were white with the blossoms of Diplarhoena Moroea—an Iris-like plant, common in the colony, the Barn Bluff and other mountains adjacent, were covered with fresh snow, and the tops of the potatoes at Chilton were touched with frost. The land here is high, with marshy flats and grassy forest. The trees of the open ground are chiefly Stringy-bark 20 to 30 feet in circumference, and 70 to 100 feet high. The country of the Hampshire and Surrey Hills, has proved unfavourable for sheep, but seems adapted for horned cattle.

24th. We crossed the Leven River, travelled through some open forest, and over the swampy Black Bluff Mountains, which are 3,381 feet high, and crossed a fine open country, called The Vale of Belvoir, in which there is a sheet of water named Patterdale-lake. This vale has numerous pits of water and streams, even with the grass, dividing and again uniting, so as to make travelling difficult. There are