After having done this, I sent Mr. Gilbert and
Charley down the creek, to ascertain its course, and to see whether it
would be practicable to skirt the highland of peak range to the westward.
Last night thunder-storms were gathering to the south-west, but they did
not come up to us. The night breeze is very strong and regular, and sets
in invariably between a quarter and half-past eight o'clock; last night
it was quite a gale, which I considered to be the indication of a change
in the weather, and of rain.
John Murphy brought the flower of a yellow Hibiscus from Roper's Peak: it
is certainly a new species.
Jan. 30. - Last night clouds gathered into a thunder-storm to the
south-west, but it passed by with very little rain: heavy clouds hung
round us, in every direction, but it seemed as if even their passage over
the parched plains exhausted their moisture. In the east and south-east a
heavy thunder cloud, with incessant lightning, was seen, but so distant
that we could not hear the thunder. In the morning, loose clouds spread
over the whole sky: this was the first cloudy day we had experienced for
the last three weeks. Nature looks quite refreshed; the grass is so
green, and the modest blue Ruellia so plentiful; whole fields of Crinum
are in full blossom; and the Ironbark and flooded-gum with a denser and
richer foliage than usual, afford us a most agreeable shade.
