to go into the heated air, declared, that it was impossible to turn the face for five minutes to the quarter from whence the wind blew."-(Account of New South Wales, p. 153, 154.)

November, 1791.

"The extreme heat of the weather during the month had not only increased the sick list, but had added one to the number of deaths. On the 4th, a convict attending upon Mr. White, in passing from his house to his kitchen, without any covering upon his head, received a stroke from a ray of the sun, which at the time deprived him of speech and motion, and, in less than fourand-twenty hours, of his life. The thermometer on that day stood at twelve o'clock at 944°, (28° 0 Reaumur) and the wind was at N. W.

"By the dry weather which prevailed, our water had been so much affected, beside being lessened by the watering of some of the transports, that a prohibition was laid by the Governor on the watering of the remainder at Sydney, and their boats were directed to go to a convenient place upon the North shore. To remedy this evil, the Governor had employed the stonemason's gang to cut tanks out of the rock, which would be reservoirs for the water, large enough to supply the settlement for some time."-(Ib. 189.)

December, 1792.

“The weather during the month was very hot; the 5th was a day most excessively sultry. The wind blew strong from the Northward of West; the country, to add to the intense heat of the atmosphere, was everywhere on fire. At Sydney, the grass at the back of the hill on the west side of the cove, having either caught or been set on fire by the natives, the flames, aided by the wind which at that time blew violently, spread and raged with incredible fury. One house was burnt down; several gardens with their fences were destroyed; and the whole face of the hill was on fire, threatening every thatched hut with destruction.

The conflagration was with much difficulty (notwithstanding the exertions of the military) got under, after some time, and prevented from doing any further mischief. At different times during this uncomfortable day distant thunder was heard, the air darkened, and some few large drops of rain fell. The apparent danger from the fires drew all persons out of their houses; and on going into the parching air, it was scarcely possible to breathe; the heat was insupportable; vegetation seemed to suffer much, the leaves of many culinary plants being reduced to a powder. The thermometer in the shade rose above 100° (S0°. 2. Reaumur) Some rain falling toward evening, the excessive heat abated." (Ib. 257.)

"The master of the American ship the Hope observed, when about the South cape of this country, that the weather was clear ; but after passing the latitude of the Maria Islands, he found it close, hazy, and heated, and had every appearance of thick smoke. About that time we had the same sort of weather here; and the excessive heats which at other times have been experienced in the settlements, have been also noticed at sea when at some distance from the land."-(Ib. 255.)

August, 1794.

"On the 25th, the hot land-wind visited us for the first time this season, blowing until evening with much violence, when it was succeeded, as usually happened after so hot a day, by the wind at South."— (Ib. 386.)

Well, my friend, what would you have said, if I had related to you the particulars of these truly alarming phenomena ? Would you not have charged me with exaggeration, and perhaps afterward required from me some warranty of the truth of the other facts in my narrative? Yet the writer of these accounts was a man of respectability and veracity; he wrote in presence of persons who were witnesses of these disasters; his narrative has been

read throughout Europe and in New Holland; a thousand tongues would have been ready to contradict him, had he advanced a falsehood; and Péron himself, whò has translated him, gives him full and entire credit.

For my own part I frankly confess, that I do not place much confidence in it, notwithstanding the character of the relater. What! he doubts whether the trees and shrubs were set on fire by the natives, or by the heat of the atmosphere, though the thermometer never rose higher than 32° of Reaumur! What! the convicts died when they remained exposed to the sun only a few minutes! The leaves were charred! Vegetation was destroyed!.....But at Timor the heat is regularly as great: and one day, when the thermometer was above 31° in the shade, I made an excursion with my friend Guerin of more than eighteen miles, almost always exposed to the fervent action of the sun, without experiencing any of the formidable effects related by Collins. Most of our sailors sent out to kill game, took still longer walks, without experiencing more inconvenience than myself.

You will ask me then, if the account I quote be false: No: I believe it is true; but as it was probably written at the moment when these meteorological phenomena took place, it may be apprehended that the presence of the evil magnified it to the imagination of the relater; and more especially that he wrote from reports not very precise. That springs were dried up, and that birds perished from want of food, or victims to thirst, may easily be conceived; such facts take place sometimes in other countries: but I repeat, I do not believe, that a heat of 28°, 30°, or 32°, can produce such formidable effects in nature; and it is in this that Collins's narrative appears to me an exaggeration.

LETTER CL.

Sydney.

OUGHT I to say any thing to you of feasts, balls, and other parties of pleasure, made on our account? And will not you be astonished, that I, who have occasionally spoken of the English with a freedom so little in their favour, should be now receiving their civilities and attentions?

I can assure you, that the word Englishman is never painful to my ear; and the best proof I can give of my not being actuated by absurd prejudices, is, that I accept with lively gratitude all the friendly offers made me. I have found merchants, who are men of integrity and well informed; soldiers, brave and fond of gaiety; ladies, extremely agreeable and modest; who allow me to join in their sports and amusements: I fly to them eagerly; and I feel here above all places, that he, who is at the distance of the earth's diameter from his native land, is neither Russian, nor Englishman, nor Spaniard, nor Frenchman; here all are Europeans, and all are countrymen.

Certainly the Governor of Diely welcomed us with peculiar kindness; the Governor of Guam loaded us with civilities; and at the Isles of France and Bourbon we were treated as brothers but no where did we meet with such splendid entertainments as at Sydney; and the captains of the ships emulated the inhabitants of the town, in making us regret a rendezvous that was to be one of the last of our toilsome expedition.

It is pleasing to me to inform you, that not the slightest dispute ever took place, that the frankest urbanity prevailed in all our meetings; and that we departed with the greatest

regret, that we could make no return to such friendly and honourable attentions, but our grateful acknowledgments.

There would be no ingratitude in not naming any of the persons who received us with most kindness, since it would be to enumerate the most respectable persons in the settlement. But after Governor Macquarie, and Messrs. Field, Wylde, Piper, and Bligh, who are the principal civil officers, Messrs. Forbes, Wollstonecraft.... but let me stop, I am running on with a long list of names. If we quit this with regret, at least we enjoy the certainty, that our friendship was felt and appreciated.

P.S.-I say nothing to you of Paramatta, of which I had but a glimpse; or of several other settlements in that part of New Holland, which I did not see, and of which my comrades saw no more than myself; as I am resolved to give you nothing but authentic accounts. But I cannot avoid making one remark here, the justice of which will be acknowledged by all travellers: that is, the English do not sufficiently vary the names they give to the countries they discover; and that the perpetual series of King George's River, King George's Peak, King George's Plain, Queen Charlotte's Sound, Queen Charlotte's Cove, Queen Charlotte's Marsh, infuse much obscurity into their narratives. Yet their country is sufficiently fertile in illustrious names, which they might have affixed to their discoveries.

I will add too, that it is easy to guess from the names given to foreign settlements, and particularly to the harbours, towns, and little settlements, by what nation they were first discovered or settled. In the Marianne Islands are not fort St. Agatha, the castle of St. Raphael, the Mater Dolorosa, the Queen of Heaven, the Guardian Angel, &c., plainly Spanish? As to ourselves, Cape Buffon, Delambre's Sound, Berthollet's and Laplace's Islands, &c., are I believe sufficiently French, and it is