chanting abode. One can steal there with astonishing facility, and get rich in less than a fortnight. That kind of trade was never yours, Sir; and......Pardon me, pardon me; I had made a considerable fortune in your country, and I went to England to spend it but one day I attempted to try the same way of gain at home, I was apprehended; and here I am. You see a thief of Amsterdam, of Paris, and of London. Have you any money, Sir? At this unexpected question I kept silence, and affected a confidence that I was far from possessing. But my thief of London Amsterdam and Paris repeated it in such an audible voice, that I could not avoid an answer; and frankly confessed, that I had about me five or six Spanish dollars. So much the better, Sir,' replied he, so much the better. As you ought to leave my abode as you entered it, I congratulate myself at having. an opportunity of convincing you, that I have renounced my old habits: be perfectly easy therefore, Sir, and rest yourself a little longer; we shall be gone before night, for the storm is increasing in the mountain, and the torrent which is now swelling threatens us with an approaching inundation.'

After taking my host's advice, I wished to present his wife with a couple of dollars in return for what she had offered me: but the thief of Paris London and Amsterdam told me, that he was proud of obliging me without payment, and that he should take it as a favour for me not to press it any more. any more.. I requested him, however to allow me to offer something to his pretty children; to which he consented, and I gave them a handsome handkerchief and a knife, that I had bought at Sydney. They held out their little hands, and I kissed them with a warm heart. O sir,' said the convict, this is a present; it will be lucky to me. Four years more, and I shall see my native land again!'

A big tear trickled down his cheek, and was kissed off by his wife.

Long after I departed, those children, the mother, and above all, the father's tear often recurred to my softened imagination.

Tired of waiting for me, my guide had returned home; and while he was telling his master, that I had probably lost my way in the forests, I entered, and related the particulars of my journey. I was strongly urged not often to repeat such excursions; and I assure you, my friend, I promised it sincerely.

After a fortnight spent in the journey, and in instructive and agreeable excursions, we returned to Sydney by the same road as we came. On my return, I had frequent occasion to admire the rich fleeces of the ewes and rams, feeding in the forests. The wool is superior to the Spanish; and I am told, that in England, cloth manufactured from the wools of Sydney is preferred to that made from any European wool.

When I arrived at Liverpool, I wished to pay my compliments to the Irish General; but, he was shut up in his chamber, and declined my civilities.

In the court of the hospital, I again saw the convict I mentioned to you, who was bitten by a black snake, as he was begging from us. To give you an idea of the activity of the poison of this formidable reptile, I must add here, that, notwithstanding the celerity of the operation which the poor fellow performed on himself, and the promptitude with which the ligature was applied at the moment of the accident, he still suffered great torment, and had frequent fits of phrenzy.

P.S. I heard some days after at Sydney, that he was quite out of danger, and the fact is mentioned as a surprising cure. Adieu!

LETTER CXLIX.

Sydney-Cove.

IT is a grievous thing that the countries on which heaven has shed the greatest benefits should also, by a melancholy compensation, be those which it has peopled with the most noxious animals, and which are often ravaged by the most formidable scourges.

Where is a land more fertile than the Molucca Islands? where a richer vegetation than that which adorns the slopes of their mountains, and reaches down even to the sea-shore? yet underneath those grand masses of verdure, fearful reptiles crawl. Where is a more beautiful sky than that of New Holland? yet this country, so favoured by nature, is subject to frequent atmospheric changes, which are even more fatal to the inhabitants than to their crops and trees.

M. Péron is much astonished that the winds, which, after crossing the Blue Mountains, traverse Cumberland county, are not colder than those which come from the east, that is from the ocean. He calls to the support of his opinion the results of all the meteorological observations on record, down to our own times; and justly concludes, that winds crossing great heights should have a much lower temperature than those that traverse spacious plains. Habituated to the idea he had formed, and which is almost generally true, that the country engaging our attention is in every respect different from others, he inquires in vain, why what takes place in other climates does not take place here; and why all the probabilities admitted in natural philosophy, general or particular, should be continually falsified in New Holland.

From his reasoning it might be inferred, that the Blue Mountains, like the Cordilleras, which have nearly the same direction, have table-lands covered with perpetual frost, and frowning summits always crowned with snow.

Nothing, however, is less true. In the first place the Blue Mountains, which are spoken of with a sort of religious awe, are in general only 3 or 400 fathoms above the level of the sea, and the highest summits do not exceed 5 or 600. Now in a latitude of 36° only it is evident, that such an elevation cannot produce any very sensible effect on the temperature of the wind; particularly when before its arrival it has already traversed immense plains, from which it has drawn a portion of the heat imparted to them by a burning sun.

Accordingly the only admissible reason, that in my opinion can explain those extraordinary phenomena, of which Cumberland county is so often a witness and a victim, is the existence of those vast deserts, which characterize almost the whole of New Holland beyond the Blue Mountains.

Nothing in fact is so alarming as the calamitous results of the passage of these North-West winds; " they may be compared," says Collins, "to every thing most formidable of this kind, that Africa can produce." I cannot here resist the desire of transcribing some passages in Péron's voyage, who has himself translated them from Collins.

"The scorching breath of the North and North-West winds destroys every thing exposed to their action. Nothing resists the ardour of this Austral sirocco; in a few minutes it withers the most active vegetation; springs and rivulets are dried up before it; and even animals perish by thousands under its fatal influence. But as effects here cease to be proportionate to their causes, it is to experience alone we must appeal; and in this respect, from the unanimous testimony of the most enlightened

inhabitants of New South Wales, we may rely on the authority of the most valuable historian this country has yet had."*

"In the month of February, 1791," says Collins, "in addition to other works in hand, the surveyor was employed in clearing and deepening the run of water, which supplied the settlement at Sydney; and which, through the long drought, was at this time very low, although still sufficient for the consumption of the place. Fresh water was indeed everywhere very scarce, most of the streams or runs of water about the cove being dried up.

"At Rose Hill, the heat on the 10th and 11th of the month, on which days at Sydney the thermometer stood in the shade at 105°, (32°. 4 of Reaumur) was so excessive, (being much increased by the fire in the adjoining woods,) that immense numbers of the large fox-bat were seen hanging at the boughs of the trees, and dropping into the water, which, by their stench, was rendered unwholesome. They had been observed for some days before regularly taking their flight in the morning from the Northward to the Southward, and returning in the evening. During the excessive heat manydropped dead while on the wing; and it is remarkable, that those which were picked up were chiefly males. In several parts of the harbour, the ground was covered with different sorts of small birds, some dead, and others gasping for water.

"The relief of the detachment at Rose Hill unfortunately took place on one of these sultry days, and the officer having occasion to land in search of water, was compelled to walk several miles before any could be found, the runs which were known being all dry; in his way to and from the boat, he found several birds dropping dead at his feet. The wind was about North-West, and did much injury to the gardens, burning up every thing before it. Those persons whose business compelled them

* The following extracts are not re-translated from the French, but copied from the original work; in doing this, several gross blunders in the French translation have been detected, which it is material to notice, as Mr. Arago's remarks which follow, are principally grounded on these blunders.-TRANSLATOR.