| Description | Commencing with thanks for letters and teasing about errors and handwriting. William has been studying Bengalese for the last month and hopes for the high proficiency mark on 1 November. He thinks the examiners are capricious, however. He will attend to John's request on 'Hindoostanee' and sends a sample of Bengalese in his own hand. A few weeks ago he shot an Adjutant bird, giving its dimensions, and referring to a species of bat whose dimensions 'would make you gape'. It is a fruit eater and he sketches a claw. There is a holiday approaching and he contemplates a trip, but dislikes the flatness of the country. He has visited the Botanical Gardens and describes a Banyan tree at length. When he has made up a box, he will give John instructions on how to see it through the Custom House. At present he has collected only butterflies and some bird skins, but will transmit things home from time to time. He asks John to tell their mother he has sold the set of knives to his aunt and asks for others, with a selection of other articles he needs, including books. Cary's and Louisia's drawings are admired. He has tried the camera and asks for a description of the process from Uncle John [Stewart] with a supply of nitrate of silver and a metal retort. The rains are coming and he concludes by saying he is off to canter in the woods and that he was unlucky not to have seen a comet. |