336 
CLIMATE OF AUSTRALIA. 
reddening it. The acidity is due to hydrochloric acid, gene- 
rated from the chlorine and moisture adhering to the chloro- 
form operated on by light. Mr. Abraham, in the paper, at 
page 348, has arrived at similar conclusions. — Editor.] 
ART. LXXV.— CLIMATE OF AUSTRALIA. 
By John Gould, Esq., F. R. S., F. G. S., &c. 
In a country of so vast extent as Australia, spreading over 
so many degrees of latitude, we might naturally expect to 
find much diversity in the climate, and such is really the case. 
Van Diemen's, from its isolated and more southern position, 
is cooler, and characterized by greater humidity than Aus- 
tralia ; its vegetation is therefore abundant and its forests 
dense and difficult of access. The climate of the continent, 
on the other hand, between the 25th and 35th degrees of la- 
titude, is much drier, and has a temperature which is probably 
higher than that of any other part of the world, the thermo- 
meter frequently rising to 110, 120 and even 130 deg. in the 
shade ; and this high temperature is not unfrequently in- 
creased by the hot winds which sweep over the country from 
the northward, and which indicate most strongly the parched 
and sterile nature of the interior. Unlike other hot coun- 
tries, this great heat and dryness is' unaccompanied by night- 
dews, and the falls of rain being uncertain and irregular, 
droughts of many months' duration sometimes occur, during 
which the rivers and lagoons are dried up, the land becomes 
a parched waste, vegetation is burnt up, and famine spreads 
destruction on every side. It is easier for the imagination 
to conceive than the pen to depict, the horrors of so dread- 
ful a visitation. The indigenous animals and birds retire to 
the mountains, or to more distant regions exempt from its 
influence. Thousands of sheep and oxen perish, bullocks 
are seen dead by the roadside, or in the dried-up water holes 
