88 Meteorological Observations at Bendigo. 
6. During very hot and.dry weather I have found my 
opossum rug discharging electric sparks, with a cracking 
noise, when rubbed with the hand; sometimes I observed a 
similar electric phenomenon, although in a less degree, on a 
common wool blanket. 
7. There are few thunderstorms, compared to those 
in other countries, although the atmosphere seemed 
to be fully charged with electricity. Very vivid flashes of 
lightning, marked with the peculiarity of always taking a 
perpendicular direction, were accompanied by heavy showers. 
8. The atmosphere is generally clear, and the stars 
visible, even close to the horizon, with but a very slight 
scintillating appearance. The firmament is more blue than 
that above Melbourne, but less brilliant than in Van Diemen’s 
Land. Fogs I observed only twice or three times, early in 
the morning, lasting, however, but a very short time; never- 
theless, the atmosphere is occasionally of a yellowish-grey 
colour, which is the effect of the large bush fires, which 
occasionally originate during hot winds. The opinions of 
the causes of bush fires are various; according to my 
observations, it may be attributed: — 
To carelessness with camp fires, &c. 
To a slumbering fire in a hollow tree, in places where the 
bush fires seem to be extinct. In such hollow trees, for 
several weeks, the fire is smouldering, and, during the hot 
winds, is fanned into flames, and thus communicates to the 
parched vegetation, sometimes at a very great distance, not 
only sparks, but burning charcoal of considerable size. 
In places far in the interior, where no man could be supposed 
to have penetrated, the origin of bush fires can be attributed 
to lightning, and to the friction of dried branches, during the 
hot northerly winds. One could scarcely imagine, without 
having seen it, what power these winds exercise upon the 
branches of a tree, and what a peculiar noise is produced by 
the friction of the branches, during the prevalence of the 
gale. Considering the friction of thousands of branches in 
the forest, aided by a high temperature, scarcely endurable to 
animals, it sufficiently accounts for those fires in the interior, 
the origin of which could be attributed to no other agency, 
except, perhaps, lightning. 
9. Frost is not unfrequent during the winter season ; 
ice, however, is seldom seen, and rarely attains the thick- 
ness of a quarter of an inch. Snow I did not observe dur- 
ing the whole of my stay at Bendigo, - Rain and storms are ~ 
