Mr King's Observations on New South Wales. 117 



Art. XX. — Observations on the Climate and Geology of Nero 

 South Wales. By James King, Esq. In a Letter to the 

 Editor. 



Sir, 

 I only arrived in this flourishing British colony a few months 

 ago. The voyage thither was a truly disagreeable one, from the 

 foolish, and I may say despotic, conduct of the skipper, and from 

 the length of time we were tumbled and tossed on the restless 

 bosom of the ocean, being not less than from the 25th Septem- 

 ber 1826, when we sailed from Leith Roads, to the 23d March 

 1827, which brought us to anchor in Port Jackson. During 

 the voyage I wrote you from St Jago, one of the Cape De 

 Verd Islands, (where we stopped a few days to water,) 15th 

 November 1826, respecting the air thermometer which I sent 

 to the Royal Society ; and at the same time inclosed the de- 

 scription of an improved safety valve for Woolfs apparatus, 

 which you have no doubt received some time ago, as Mr Clark, 

 British Consul there, kindly undertook to forward my letter to 

 London. 



Nothing occurred during the tedious voyage worthy of re- 

 mark, except the very temperate atmosphere we had on the 

 equator, and while under the sun's vertical rays. Between the 

 18th degree of north latitude, and the 22d of south latitude, 

 the thermometer ranged generally between 75° and 82° ; but 

 while we lay at anchor in the bay off the town of Portapraya 

 in St Jago, it stood about 84° ; and one day the thermometer 

 was at 86°, which was the highest indication during the voy- 

 age ; and what made it the more remarkable, the sun was with- 

 in a few degrees of its most southern declination, and its me- 

 ridian altitude at the time was consequently only 57°, St Jago 

 being about 14° north of the equator. We had an agreeable 

 south east trade wind, which wafted us over the tropics, the 

 southern boundary of Capricorn. We crossed only a few de- 

 grees distant from the coast of Brazil. Although it was then 

 midsummer there, the heat on board the ship was not above 

 82°. During the summer of 1826, at Warsaw it was 95°, and 

 at St Petersburg 96°. 



