20 Voyage of CapL Sir James C. Ross to the Antarctic. 



twenty-nine fathoms. They remained in the colony till August 

 5, and were much impressed by its prosperity, and by the opu- 

 lence and extent of Sydney, the principal city. 



Magnetic observations for comparison were instituted here by 

 Captain Ross with satisfactory results. 



In company with the governor (Sir George Gipps) he visited 

 the Paramatta Observatory, fifteen miles up the river. It was 

 established by the private munificence of Sir Thomas Brisbane, 

 late governor of the colony. Signals by means of rockets were 

 now arranged between this Observatory and Garden Island as a 

 means of determining the longitude of these places, which was 

 thus correctly ascertained. 



Although this country is, not unfrequently, visited by severe 

 drought, it experiences, occasionally, excessive falls of rain. Dur- 

 ing the twenty-one days that the expedition remained here it 

 rained in all the days except four. On two or three occasions it 

 came down in perfect sheets. On the afternoon of the 16th, 

 during 2 J hours, more than three inches of rain fell ; on the 17th, 

 between 7 a. m. and noon, nearly five inches. The governor 

 stated that, on one occasion, twenty-three inches fell in twenty- 

 four hours, a quantity equivalent to what falls in a whole year in 

 some parts of Great Britain. It created a temporary deluge with 

 great destruction of property ; indeed the soft sandstone which 

 forms the foundation of the country is every where worn into 

 deep channels by these occasional torrents.* 



In New South Wales the country sometimes suffers very se- 

 verely from want of rain, creating danger of a famine of both 

 bread and water. The soil is extremely sandy and there are no 

 springs and very few rivers. During the drought of 1838, a gen- 

 tleman rode his horse forty miles without water, and eventually 

 paid half a crown for less than a quart. 



Governor Gipps, by damming up the water courses of winter, 

 has obtained a sufficient supply. 



August 5. — As they left the harbor, they found the temperature 

 of the air 55° to 60° F., and that of the sea at 55°-63°. The 

 ships were laden for three years even below their bearings, by 

 provisions, stores and fuel, so that with a heavy press of sail they 

 could not make over eight knots an hour. The Terror, being 

 a heavy sailer, detained the Erebus in waiting for her to come up, 

 and they had the mortification to see a merchant ship pass them 

 under easy sail. 



Aug. 8. — Falling stars ivere occasionally sought for, during 

 the night, and as there was a deficiency of observers to watch 



* At Joyeuse, in the department of Ardeche in France, there fell on the 9th of 

 August, 1807, 9*87 inches of rain — then thought to be enormously great, but on the 

 9th of October, 1827, in twenty-four hours 31*17 descended at the same place. 



Aram. 



