| Description | He intends to select subjects to distribute across several letters and therefore he will not tell her about acquaintances. He last wrote from Ceylon [Sri Lanka] and he describes coconut palms there, sketching a caricature of himself, together with a local outrigger canoe. He arrived at Madras afterwards, where passengers could not disembark easily because of the heavy surf. William describes Ganges mud out at sea and the remainder of the voyage, stopping at Garden Reach where his uncle met him by boat, and his aunt onshore. He describes his employment decisions, noting that acquiring the language would be sure to procure him a role in Burma should he decide on that later. His uncle has looked after him well, and he now has four servants of his own, describing them and their roles. William has bought a horse, a grey Arab, and he refers to the animal's high spirits and his own need to acquire more riding skill. He describes his attempts to polish his language abilities, and recalls a fifth servant, who accompanies him at table. He gives a list of his acquaintances via his introductions, which were useful, and passes on his opinions of local manners and etiquette in visiting, including the leaving of cards and their cost. He confesses that he lost his carpet bag and its contents in Lyons, leaving a sovereign with a hotel keeper in Marseilles as a reward, in order to forward it if found. He has now received it, with the carriage paid to Calcutta [Kolkata] from the sovereign. |