14 EARLY LETTERS [CHAP. I 



Letter 4 spirit bottle, etc., and pill-boxes with beetles. Would you be 

 kind enough to open these latter as they are apt to become 

 mouldy. With the exception of the bones the rest of my 

 collection looks very scanty. Recollect how great a proportion 

 of time is spent at sea. I am always anxious to hear in what 

 state the things come and any criticisms about quantity or 

 kind of specimens. In the smaller cask is part of a large 

 head, the anterior portions of which are in the other large 

 one. The packet has arrived and I am in a great bustle. You 

 will not hear from me for some months. 



Letter 5 To J. S. Henslow. 



Valparaiso, July 24 th 1834. 



A box has just arrived in which were two of your most 

 kind and affectionate letters. You do not know how happy 

 they have made me. One is dated Dec. I5th, 1833, the 

 other Jan. I5th of the same year! By what fatality it did 

 not arrive sooner I cannot conjecture ; I regret it much, for 

 it contains the information I most wanted, about manner 

 of packing, etc., etc. : roots with specimens of plants, etc., etc. 

 This I suppose was written after the reception of my first 

 cargo of specimens. Not having heard from you until March 

 of this year I really began to think that my collections were 

 so poor, that you were puzzled what to say ; the case is now 

 quite on the opposite tack ; for you are guilty of exciting 

 all my vain feelings to a most comfortable pitch ; if hard 

 work will atone for these thoughts, I vow it shall not be 

 spared. It is rather late, but I will allude to some remarks 

 in the Jan. letter ; you advise me to send home duplicates 

 of my notes ; I have been aware of the advantage of doing 

 so ; but then at sea to this day, I am invariably sick, ex- 

 cepting on the finest days, at which times with pelagic 

 animals around me, I could never bring myself to the task 

 on shore the most prudent person could hardly expect such 

 a sacrifice of time. My notes are becoming bulky. I have 

 about 600 small quarto pages full ; about half of this is 

 Geology the other imperfect descriptions of animals ; with 

 the latter I make it a rule only to describe those parts or 

 facts, which cannot be seen in specimens in spirits. I keep 

 my private Journal distinct from the above. (N.B. This 

 letter is a most untidy one, but my mind is untidy with joy ; 



