It was at this harvest season in the Mallee we tasted all the charms of a perfect Australian summer climate. The eucalyptus was putting forth its new, delicate tips of gold and brown, a perfect blend of bush colour. The sky was of a deep blue, unrelieved by a fleck of cloud. The air, dry and hot, encompassed us like the breath of a generous oven in which all manner of savoury things were yielding up their odours. This blend of bush perfumes, liberated by the heat of the sun, has a character all its own. The charm is completed by the extreme clearness of the atmosphere, which creates many a sweet illusion of the landscape. On these broad spaces the mirage is frequently seen. At least half a dozen times we were tricked into believing that ahead of us lay a glorious stretch of water, when all that awaited us was a particularly dry part of the plain.
Frederic C. Spurr, in Five Years under the Southern CrossAuthor.-Frederic C. Spurr spent some time in Australia and wrote Five Years Under the Southern Cross (Cassell).
General.-What is a miracle? Why was the air like the breath of an oven? Is that a good simile? What is a mirage? Sometimes a mirage is seen at sea, or in the sky, as well as on land. When is it harvest time in the Mallee? Is there a distinction between the Mallee District and the Wimmera District?