Page:Tracks of McKinlay and party across Australia.djvu/391

. Following this guiding channel, the travellers at length arrive amongst the settlements just after the last camel—defiant, contentious old Siva—had gone into the pot, as the last horse (save two) and the last bullock had done some time before, and when the exhausted stock of provisions had already been the subject of some anxiety.

Passing through a range of latitude varying from 17° to 20°, the climate of the country is remarkable. The intense cold, especially at night, is constantly alluded to. For instance, on 27th May, "cold keen wind, south-south-east," and on 28th, "bitterly cold," etc. Subsequently, on three different mornings, there was ice on the water in the pots, and the dew was frozen upon the blankets. Although the season was the middle of winter, this degree of cold, so frequently recurring, is unusual in other parts of the world in so low a latitude, and in positions of no great elevation above the sea level. But once more to the Journal. "Revenons à nos moutons" as Mr. Davis would have said most heartily, if the literal of the phrase could for once have been substituted for the figurative.

22nd. (Return Camp i.) This is a magnificent morning. Started early, but going over the same, I have not much to say. We camped about three miles north of our camp, going up a creek with