Page:Voyage in search of La Perouse, volume 2 (Stockdale).djvu/41

] versing very commodiously a spacious plain, part of the vegetables growing on which had lately been burned by the natives. In a short time we reached the head of the great lake, along the borders of which we walked as far as the sea, and having travelled over a considerable extent of ground, we returned to its extremity, to spend the night near a rivulet, which we had already crossed. As the weather was very fine, we lay down to sleep in the open air, sheltered solely by large trunks of trees, that lay on the ground; but the piercing cold we felt soon obliged us to kindle a large fire.

It is remarkable, that the temperature of the air, at this extremity of New Holland, is sometimes 17° lower in the night than it was in the day. (From 23° to 6° of the mercurial thermometer graduated according to Reaumur, which is always to be understood). In fact this narrow land, lying in a pretty high latitude, is not very capable of long retaining the heat, which has been imparted to it by the rays of the sun. This great difference of temperature was very inconvenient to us, as it obliged us to encumber ourselves with clothes, which we found very troublesome in the day. I must observe, however, that the variation of the thermometer on board at the same time did not exceed 5° or 6°. 9th.