The first of the barometers was unfortunately broken on the way up to Moorundi, so that I was a second time disappointed.
It appears to me that the tubes of these delicate instruments are not secured with sufficient care in the case, that the corks placed to steady them are at too great intervals, and that the elasticity of the tube is consequently too great for the weight of mercury it contains.

The thermometers sent from England, graduated to 127 degrees only, were too low for the temperature into which I went, and consequently useless at times, when the temperature in the shade exceeded that number of degrees.
One of them was found broken in its case, the other burst when set to try the temperature, by the over expansion of mercury in the bulb.
The party had left Adelaide in such haste that it became necessary before we should again move, to rearrange the loads.

On Monday, the 18th, therefore I desired Mr.Piesse to attend to this necessary duty, and not only to equalize the loads on the drays, and ascertain what stores we had, but to put everything in its place, so as to be procured at a moment's notice.
The avenue at Moorundi presented a busy scene, whilst the men were thus employed reloading the drays and weighing the provisions.

Morgan, who had the charge of the horse cart, had managed to snap one of the shafts in his descent into the Moorundi Flat, and was busy replacing it.

Brock, a gunsmith by trade, was cleaning the arms.