On This Expedition We Carried With Us A Thermometer Which (In Unison
With Our Feelings) Shewed So Extraordinary A Degree Of Cold For The Latitude
Of The Place That I Think Myself Bound To Transcribe It.
Monday, 18th July 1791.
The sun arose in unclouded splendor and presented
to our sight a novel and picturesque view. The contiguous country as white
as if covered with snow, contrasted with the foliage of trees flourishing
in the verdure of tropical luxuriancy*. Even the exhalation which steamed
from the lake beneath contributed to heighten the beauty of the scene.
Wind SSW. Thermorneter at sunrise 25 degrees. The following night
was still colder. At sunset the thermometer stood at 45 degrees;
at a quarter before four in the morning, it was at 26 degrees;
at a quarter before six at 24 degrees; at a quarter before seven, at
23 degrees; at seven o'clock, 22.7 degrees; at sunrise, 23 degrees, after which
it continued gradually to mount, and between one and two o'clock,
stood at 59.6 degrees in the shade. Wind SSW. The horizon perfectly clear
all day, not the smallest speck to be seen. Nothing but demonstration
could have convinced me that so severe a degree of cold ever existed
in this low latitude. Drops of water on a tin pot, not altogether out of
the influence of the fire, were frozen into solid ice in less than
twelve minutes. Part of a leg of kangaroo which we had roasted for supper
was frozen quite hard, all the juices of it being converted into ice.
On those ponds which were near the surface of the earth, the covering of ice
was very thick; but on those which were lower down it was found to be less so,
in proportion to their depression; and wherever the water was twelve feet
below the surface (which happened to be the case close to us)
it was uncongealed.
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