158 LONDON AND CAMBRIDGE. [ch. vii. 



couple of hours on my Coral volume, and take a little walk 

 or ride every day. I grow very tired in the evenings, and 

 am not able to go out at that time, or hardly to receive my 

 nearest relations ; but my life ceases to be burdensome now 

 that I can do something." 



The manuscript of Coral Reefs was at last sent to the 

 printers in January 1842, and the last proof corrected in 

 May. He thus writes of the work in his diary : 



" I commenced this work three years and seven months 

 ago. Out of this period about twenty months (besides work 

 during Beagle's voyage) has been spent on it, and besides it, 

 I have only compiled the Bird part of Zoology ; Appendix 

 to Journal, paper on Boulders, and corrected papers on Glen 

 Eoy and earthquakes, reading on species, and rest all lost 

 by illness." 



The latter part of this year belongs to the period includ- 

 ing the settlement at Down, and is therefore dealt with in 

 another chapter. 



