THE EIVEB DABLIffG. 193 



a view of placing on record the services rendered by that lady, to 

 make some observations on the subject. The fortitude with 

 which Mrs. Forde encountered the difficulties of the expedition, 

 and the melancholy circumstances which deprived the colony of 

 an able and efficient officer, attach peculiar interest to the collec- 

 tion ; and one cannot help regretting that the breaking up of the 

 party prevented the further prosecution of an object which had 

 been so auspiciously commenced, and which, if perseveringly 

 carried on during the progress up the river, would have tended 

 to develop the vegetable resources of the Darling. Owing to 

 the long continued drought which had prevailed, the season was 

 rather unfavourable for collecting specimens of plants, as every 

 thing appeared stunted in its growth, and many of the delicate 

 species seemed to struggle for existence. The previous year 

 (1864) had been favourable for vegetation, for whilst the dead 

 stems of Lavatera pleleia of the Mallow family measured upwards 

 of five feet, the living ones did not exceed a foot. A similar 

 remark was applicable to other plants, nor can such a state of 

 things be wondered at, when we are assured that at the period to 

 which I refer, " it was quite impossible to find a moist place on 

 the Darling, everything being dry, parched and burnt up, whilst 

 the ground was cracked in all directions with deep fissures." 

 This circumstance accounts for the large number of composite 

 plants when compared with the rest of the collection, and also 

 for the small proportion of grasses ; for whilst the former can 

 endure a great amount of heat as well as of aridity, the latter 

 require the genial influence of moisture to render them available. 

 Persons inhabiting cooler climates, where the fertilising showers 

 descend in their appointed seasons, can form but little idea of 

 the desolating results of long continued drought, especially when 

 the thermometer has been known to stand as high as 130 degrees 

 in the shade, and nearly 160 degrees in the sun, occasioning an 

 evaporation of water at the rate of an inch per day. This 

 occurred to Captain Sturt, 118 miles from the Darling. It 

 might be imagined that under circumstances so unfavourable, 

 vegetation would be at an end ; but the fact is, that many Aus- 

 tralian plants seem peculiarly adapted to withstand the influence 

 of drought, and to exist by the aid of very little moisture. Thus, 

 for instance, the beautiful " Desert pea" (Clianthus Dawpieri), 



