INTRODUCTION. 
xvii 
length a change takes place, rain falls abundantly, and the plains, on which but lately not a blade of herbage 
was to be seen, and over which the stillness of desolation reigned, become green with luxuriant vegetation. 
Orchideoe and thousands of flowers of the loveliest hues are profusely spread around, as if nature rejoiced in 
her renovation, and the grain springing up vigorously gives promise of an abundant harvest. This change 
from sterility to abundance in the vegetable world is accompanied by a correspondent increase of animal life, 
the waters become stocked with fish, the marshy districts with frogs and other reptiles ; hosts of caterpillars 
and other insects make their appearance, and spreading over the surface of the country commence the work 
of devastation, which however is speedily checked by the birds of various kinds that follow in their train. 
Attracted by the abundance of food, hawks of three or four species, in flocks of hundreds, depart from their 
usual solitary habits, become gregarious and busy at the feast, and thousands of Straw-necked Ibises {Ibis 
spinicoUis), and other species of the feathered race, revel in the profusion of a welcome banquet. It must 
not however be imagined that this change is effected without its attendant horrors ; the heavy rains often 
filling the river-beds so suddenly, that the onward pouring flood carries with it everything that may impede 
its course ; and woe to the unhappy settler whose house or grounds may lie within the influence of the 
overwhelming floods ! A painful instance of the desolating eflfects of this sudden irruption of the waters 
came under my own observation while travelling in the plains bordering the Lower Namoi in New South 
Wales. On pulling up my horse at one of the huts erected by the stock-keepers charged with the flocks 
and herds depastured in this vast grazing-ground, I found it occupied by Lieut. Lowe and his nephew, who 
had gone thither for the purpose of being present at the shearing of the flocks belonging to the former 
gentleman. Although strangers, their reception of me was warm and hospitable, and I left them with a 
promise of making their abode a resting-place on my return. My second welcome was such as friends 
receive from friends, and rejoicing that I had made the acquaintance of persons so worthy and estimable, I 
left them busy in their operations, happy and prosperous. Seven days after my departure from their 
dwelling heavy rains suddenly set in ; the mountain-streams swelled into foaming torrents, filling the deep 
gullies ; the rivers rose, some to the height of forty feet, bearing all before them. The Namoi having widely 
overflowed its banks, rolled along with impetuous fury, sweeping away the huts of the stock-keepers in its 
course, tearing up trees, and hurrying affrighted men and flocks to destruction. Before there was time to 
escape, the hut in which Lieut. Lowe and his nephew were sojourning was torn up and washed away, and 
the nephew and two men, overwhelmed by the torrent, sank and perished. Lieut. Lowe stripped to swim^ 
and getting on the trunk of an uprooted tree, hoped to be carried down the eddying flood to some part 
where he could obtain assistance. But he was floated into the midst of a sea of water stretching as far as 
he could discern on every side around him. Here he slowly drifted ; the rains had ceased, the thermometer 
vvas at 100°, a glaring sun and a coppery sky were above him ; he looked in vain for help, but no prospect 
of escape animated him, and the hot sun began its dreadful work. His skin blistered, dried, became parched 
and hard, like the bark of a tree, and life began to ebb. At length assistance arrived — it came too late ; 
he was indeed just alive, but died almost immediately. He was scorched to death. 
Sir Thomas Mitchell, in his recently published "Journal of an Expedition into the interior of Tropical 
Australia," has given a most vivid picture of the manner in which floods occasioned by distant rains fill the 
river-beds, and which I beg leave to transcribe. Sir Thomas being somewhat unwell while encamped 
on the banks of the Macquarie, the channel of which was deep and dry, sent Mr. Stephenson, one of his 
party, to Mount Foster, to make inquiries about the river and the stations on it lower down. Mr. 
E 
