The weather, which yesterday was cold and boisterous, is now again “Australian,” and I have no recollection of a finer morning in any climate than to-day. Personally, perhaps, as in some degree invalided for the last five years, I feel more the luxury of this matutinal freshness; having passed, I am told by my next neighbour, Mr. Grainger, who sleeps in the berth under me, a most uneasy night; which I can attribute only to the deleterious effects of the _tea_, of which, contrary to my usual abstinence, I last night imbibed rather more than one-third of a cup.[25] It is very annoying to be subjected thus to the caprices or the malicious propensities of cooks, stewards, or others whose duty it may be to infuse these our evening potations; and most unjust that the innocuous or even the independent members of society should be exposed to the chance of a nightmare or an apoplexy by such proceedings. Nor can the evil be without remedy; for, without coinciding with the Rev. Sydney Smith, “That a bishop must be burnt before railway accidents are prevented;” or agreeing with Mr. D’Israeli, “That an architect should be sacrificed to ensure a National Gallery worthy of a great nation;”[26] I must be pardoned for the suggestion, that society generally—and all are concerned in the suppression of such annoyances—might visit with a kind of moral _decimation_, all the perpetrators of these iniquities. The country, as we approach South Australia, is now improving in appearance, as the waters having receded, the forest appears more open, and even the “Mallee scrub” is less monotonous than before. We learn, however, that this subsidence has not taken place on the upper part of the river, the Murray having risen some feet at Maiden’s Punt, probably from the floods on the Campaspe and Goulburn, for as yet the Alpine snows have not contributed their quota to the stream. With respect to the “Mallee,” which covers so large a portion of the vicinity of this river, it may not be uninteresting to mention that there is a root of a particular kind of this shrub well-known to the natives, which, being cut into strips and placed in a pannikin or other vessel, has the property of exuding water from within, which, slowly dripping out of the wood, is thus preserved for the thirsting traveller. Friday, October 7th.—We reached the Darling last night, at eleven p.m., notwithstanding the cloudiness of the sky; and about one, despatches, papers, &c., came on board for His Excellency and some members of our party. The news does not seem of importance, the South Australian journals being too much occupied with our trip, and the English, especially the beautifully _Illustrated London News_, with the mimic war at Chobham.