n.
an Australian meteorologicalphenomenon. See quotations, especially 1879, A. R. Wallace.The phrase is of course used elsewhere, but its Australian useis peculiar. The hot wind blows from the North.Mr. H. C. Russell, the Government Astronomer of New SouthWales, writes – – «The hot wind of Australia is a circulation ofwind about the anticyclone in the rear of which, as it moves tothe east, there is a strong force of wind from north to north-west, which blowing over the heated plains of the interiorgathers up its excessive temperature and carries it to thesouthern colonies. They seldom last more than two or threedays in Sydney, and the great heat by which they are rememberednever lasts more than a few hours of one day, and is always asign of the end, which is an inrush of southerly wind, thecirculation forming the front of the new incoming anticyclone.»
1833. C. Sturt, `Southern Australia,' Vol. II. c. iii.p. 66:
«This was the only occasion upon which we felt the hot windsin the interior.»
1846. J. L. Stokes, `Discoveries in Australia,' Vol. II.c. vi. p. 243:
«These squalls generally succeed the hot winds that prevailat this season in South Australia, coming from the interior.»
Footnote – – «During the hot winds we observed the thermometer,in the direct rays of the sun, to be 135 degrees.»
1846. Ibid. c. xii. p. 403:
«A hot wind set in; . . . at one time the thermometer at thepublic offices [Adelaide] was 158 degrees.»
1849. C. Sturt, `Expedition into Central Australia,' vol.ii. p. 90:
«I sought shelter behind a large gum tree, but the blasts ofheat were so terrific that I wondered the very grass did nottake fire. . . . Everything, both animate and inanimate, gaveway before it: the horses stood with their backs to the wind,and their noses to the ground, without the muscular strength toraise their heads; the birds were mute, and the leaves of thetrees, under which we were sitting, fell like a snow showeraround us. At noon I took a thermometer, graduated to 127degrees, out of my box, and observed that the mercury was up to125 degrees. Thinking that it had been unduly influenced, Iput it in the fork of a tree close to me, sheltered alike fromthe wind and the sun. In this position I went to examine itabout an hour afterwards, when I found that the mercury hadrisen to the top of the instrument, and that its furtherexpansion had burst the bulb. . . . We had reached ourdestination, however, before the worst of the hot wind set in.»
1850. J. B. Clutterbuck, `Port Phillip in 1849,' p. 25:
«The immediate cause of the hot winds has given rise to muchspeculation. . . . The favourite theory is that they aregenerated in the sandy plains of the interior, which becomingpowerfully heated, pour their glowing breath upon the fertileregions of the south.»
1871. Dingo, `Australian Rhymes,' p. 7:
«A hot wind swift envelopes me
In dust from foot to head.»
1879. A. R. Wallace, `Australasia,' (1893) vol. i. p. 39:
«They are evidently produced by the sinking down to the surfaceof that north-westerly current of heated air which . . . isalways passing overhead. The exact causes which bring it downcannot be determined, though it evidently depends on thecomparative pressure of the atmosphere on the coast and in theinterior. Where from any causes the north-west wind becomesmore extensive and more powerful, or the sea breezes diminish,the former will displace the latter and produce a hot wind tillan equilibrium is restored. It is the same wind passingconstantly overhead which prevents the condensation of vapour,and is the cause of the almost uninterrupted sunny skies of theAustralian summer.»
1879. Rev. J. H. Zillmann, `Australian Life,' p. 40:
«Scientific men, however, tell us that those hot winds are justwhat make Australia so healthy a climate – – that they act asscavengers, and without them the death-rate of the colonieswould be alarmingly great.»