As it is Christmas day JDH wanted to write to his sisters, Elizabeth 'Bessy' & Mary Harriet Hooker. Recounts the progress of the expedition over the last 3 months. Describes stops at Madeira's Cape Braza & Bay of Funchal & his visits to Mr Muir's house. Plants in the island's gardens incl: Vines, Daturas, Fuchsias, Chinarose, Hibiscus & Heliotrope, many fruits, & on the cliffs chestnut trees. JDH describes a type of small guitar made by the Madeira natives. JDH got rheumatism on a trip to the mountains & Captain [James Clark] Ross tried to keep him on the ship but JDH went ashore to visit Mrs Montgomery Hampton, now married to a Dr Renton, & other acquaintances incl. Mr Halley & a brother of Miss Shortridge. He describes their visit to the Funchal nunneries, Santa Clara & the convent of the Incarnation, where he bought artificial flowers made of duck feathers. Next they went to Tenerife, JDH describes a visit to the Spanish town of Santa Cruz where Lord Nelson lost his arm. At the Cape Verde Islands the 'Erebus' anchored at Porto Praia a Portuguese town on the island of St Jago [Santiago], a very desolate place except for coconut trees & some oases of fruit trees. JDH collected plant specimens in the heat with the help of resident freed black slaves. JDH describes a trip through the mountainous interior of St Jago to St Domingo, during which he saw baobab trees, a beautiful kingfisher, Gallina or Guineafowl, Acacias, Castor Oil Trees, hawks, wild monkeys & tiger cats. At St Domingo sugar cane, maize, oranges, Cassava & other tropical vegetables are cultivated. They are now sailing towards St Helena via the ocean near Pernambuco, Brazil because of the trade winds. En route they have seen St Paul's Rocks & Trindada [Trindade & Martim Vaz] only notable for the birdlife: terns & boobies etc. After St Helena they will visit Tristan d'Acunha, Cape Horn, Kerguelen's Land, Van Diemen's Land [Tasmania], New Zealand & Antarctica. JDH spends the voyage drawing sea animals.

JDH writes to his sisters, Elizabeth [Bessy] & Mary [Mary Harriet] Hooker, describing the colony of Van Diemen's Land [Tasmania] & the town of Hobart. JDH explains the system of governance by military & civil power: a Lieutenant Governor & council subservient to Sydney, a General Officer to oversee the Army & Navy, & a Commissariat department to provide for the convicts. Describes the division of the island into districts governed by police constables & police magistrates. Describes the ships used to transport convicts, which he says are run strictly but with attention to order & health. Explains that convicts are given different duties depending on the severity of their crime with rewards or punishments depending on their behaviour. Those who aren't dangerous work in households as servants. Female convicts all work in factories. The system is vulnerable to uprisings & escapees. Escapees, known as bush rangers, often turn to murder, theft & cattle rustling. There are many colonial tails about the bush rangers, who are occasionally portrayed as romantic, popular figures like Robin Hood or Rob Roy but are mostly villains. The population has grown quickly & many of the emigrants have made their fortune by keeping sheep & buying & selling land. He describes the typical life of a poor emigrant, living in a hut with a convict servant & surviving on damper bread, kangaroo hash, salt pork, tea & sugar. He explains how they can become rich by clearing land & quickly increasing their livestock to the point they have excess to sell in rich markets such as Sydney, Port Philip, Adelaide, Swan River & New Zealand. They can then employ more people, such as a grubber to pull up tree stumps. It is also profitable to sell potatoes & wood. Shop keepers can make good money but are often 'ticket of leave' convicts & looked down on. Replies should be sent to JDH at Berkeley Sound, Falkland Islands. At the end, the letter bears a second sender address & date: Sydney, New South Wales, July 15 1841.

JDH reports to his sisters, Maria & Elizabeth 'Bessy', his arrival in Rio de Janeiro after a stop at Ascension Island. He writes of the correspondence he has recently sent & received. He explains that Captain [James Clark] Ross has not received despatches from the Admiral so their movements are uncertain. They will probably make some observations in Rio before returning home. They also need to make repairs to the ship, HMS 'Erebus'. JDH wrote to their father, Sir William Jackson Hooker, per the HMS 'Waterwitch' from St Helena & send him a parquet[sic] [parakeet?] on the ship 'Queen'. JDH was particularly glad to hear from his sisters that all their family are well. JDH writes about his sisters' trip to Hampshire, mentioning Bury Hill & Gilbert White's NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBOURNE. JDH sends his regards to Mrs Gray of the British Museum & communicates that her nephew, his messmate, Lieutenant Smith is well. JDH describes Rio de Janeiro harbour, town & scenery mentioning the Organ Mountains. He particularly mentions the abundance of churches & convents, & cheap fruit: oranges, bananas & pineapples. He notes how different Rio is to all the cooler colonies previously visited during the expedition. He also mentions the young Emperor of Brazil, newly married to the daughter of the King of Naples. JDH complains about the drums & pipes on a nearby American ship, which plays Yankee Doodle every night, drowning out the more skilled band on the Brazilian flagship. JDH was glad to hear that his sisters have seen Baxter & he got home safely.

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