JDH thanks his sister Elizabeth 'Bessy' Hooker for her letter & for one dictated by their dying sister Mary Harriet Hooker. It has been a long time since JDH has seen his family, he has taken to whistling tunes that remind him of them. For music the ship has an untalented fiddler & the purser plays a flute he claims was given to him by 'Peter Pindar' or Dr Wolcot. During the cruise south from Bay of Islands, [New Zealand] JDH has been making notes & learning German. The ships 'Erebus' & 'Terror' spent Christmas week tied to either side of a 2 acre piece of flat ice covered in snow, into which they carved out roads between the ships, racing grounds & a saloon with seats & dance floor. JDH describes how he & Davis sculpted ice statues of Hebe, the Sphynx, pillars & Etruscan vases. Describes their New Year's festivities on the same ice berg, incl, pig racing, raising as much noise as possible with bells, cannons, cow horns & cheering, & playing games such as 'Baste the Bear' & 'Bell the Ring'. Writes how they dined on Christmas Day, Christmas Eve, New Year's day & Twelfth Night. Discusses the animals they had on board during the cruise: cat called Phantome, goats & a tame opossum. The expedition does not get much news from home & they eagerly watch for ships heading to harbour in the Falkland Islands. They know that the Ministry has changed & wonder how it will effect their mission & William Jackson Hooker as newly appointed Director of RBG Kew. Over the last year the expedition has been successful & JDH hopes the Royal Society is pleased. JDH has worn out the muffatees his sister knitted for him but does not think she will be able to send more before they reach the Cape of Good Hope. JDH hopes the expedition will now go South in Weddell's tracks & get further than the French did under Admiral D'Urville. Wilkes' American expedition has been 'extinguished', JDH would like to talk about this with Asa Gray who he nicknames 'Bowie Knife'.