Page:Narrative of a survey of the intertropical and western coasts of Australia, Volume 2.djvu/61

 IMI. w/th an inscription, wns.considerably grown; and jiy ns. the .gum'had oozed out in such profusion,. where thenails had pierced the bak, that it had foreed one corner of.the copper off. The large gouty.stemmed tree on which the Mermaid's name-had been carved in deep in- dented characters remained without any alter- ation, and seemed likely to bear the m_nrks of our visit longer than any other memento.we had left. The sensations experienced at revisiting a place which had so seasonably afforded us a friendly shelter, and such unlooked-for convenience for our purposes, can only be estimated by those who have experienced them; and it is only to strangers to such feelings that it will appear ridiculous to say, that even the nail to which our thermometer had been suspended, was the subject of pleasurable recognition. We then bent our steps to the water.y,, but, to our mortification, it was quite dried up, and exhibited no vestige of its having contained any for some time. From the more luxuriant and verdant appearance of the trees and grass, than the country hereabout assumed last year, when the water was abundant, we bad :felt as* sured of finding it, and therefore our disappoint- ment was the reater.

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