1836.] TAHITI. 235 



it requires nothing but a little reading, thinking, and hammer- 

 ing. I have a considerable body of notes together ; but it is 

 a constant subject of perplexity to me, whether they are of 

 sufficient value for all the time I have spent about them, 

 or whether animals would not have been of more certain 

 value. 



I shall indeed be glad once again to see you and tell you 

 how grateful I feel for your steady friendship. God bless 

 you, my very dear Fox. 



Believe me, 



Yours affectionately, 



Chas. Darwin. 



C. Darwin to J. S. Henslow. 



Sydney, January, 1836. 



My dear Henslow, 



This is the last opportunity of communicating with you 

 before that joyful day when I shall reach Cambridge. I have 

 very little to say : but I must write if it is only to express 

 my joy that the last year is concluded, and that the present 

 one, in which the Beagle will return, is gliding onwards. We 

 have all been disappointed here in not finding even a single 

 letter ; we are, indeed, rather before our expected time, 

 otherwise, I dare say, I should have seen your handwriting. 

 I must feed upon the future, and it is beyond bounds de- 

 lightful to feel the certainty that within eight months I shall 

 be residing once again most quietly in Cambridge. Cer- 

 tainly, I never was intended for a traveller ; my thoughts 

 are always rambling over past or future scenes ; I cannot 

 enjoy the present happiness for anticipating the future, which 

 is about as foolish as the dog who dropped the real bone for 



its shadow. 



***** 



In our passage across the Pacific we only touched at 

 Tahiti and New Zealand ; at neither of these places or at sea 

 had I much opportunity of working. Tahiti is a most charm- 

 ing spot. Everything which former navigators have written 



