Family news. Uncle Jos [Josiah Wedgwood II] has been returned to Parliament with a fine majority.
Acknowledges receipt of two letters from CD and a box of specimens.
Mentions attendance at BAAS meeting and a gift to him of a small living near Oxford. Some political news.
Congratulates CD on the work he has done – the specimens are of great interest. Gives advice on packing, labelling, and future collecting and suggests that – as a precaution – CD send home a copy of his notes on the specimens.
His health has improved but he continues "a good deal of an invalid" and is uncertain what the future holds for him.
His interest in entomology and ornithology continues; he has been studying the gulls on the Isle of Wight.
Captain Beaufort has offered to get one more letter to CD before the long voyage around the Horn;
SD brings family news up to date.
Sends her love and family news.
Writes of the pleasure all feel in CD’s continued good health and joy in his voyage.
Tells of the banana tree he bought, which he sits under and thinks of CD "in similar shade".
CD’s financial accounts are correct.
News of family and friends.
She and Susan are in London, and she writes of people they have seen or had news of: Captain Harding, E. A. Darwin, Fanny [Mrs Hensleigh] Wedgwood, Emma Wedgwood, the Langtons, Josiah Wedgwood and Aunt Bessie, Fanny Biddulph and child, and the Evanses of Portrane.
News of family and friends after skipping June letter: Osmaston and the Foxes, five weeks in London, the Langtons in Shropshire, Fanny Biddulph and daughter, R. W. Darwin, and Charles Hughes.
Wishes CD well on his trip to General Juan Manuel Rosas. CD is to send word when he wants a boat; there is no hurry, for there is plenty of work for the sounders. He envies CD’s travels.
The [Megatherium] fossils were extremely interesting and were shown at the Geological Section of the BAAS meeting at Cambridge [1833].
The plants delight him; will work them out with W. J. Hooker.
CD should send every fossil he can find; minute insects will be nearly all new. Delighted with descriptions of the few animals alluded to.
News of family and friends. "I tell you all the gossip I can that you may know how the Shropshire world is going on."
Mainly Shropshire news of family and friends.
Urges CD to return to the Beagle early in November. Conrad Martens arrives to succeed Augustus Earle as artist for the expedition.
Mainly news of the family and friends. Their joy at the abolition of slavery.
Shropshire news of relatives and friends.
News of Fanny Biddulph and other Owens; Susan Darwin has declined a marriage offer. Other gossip about Shrewsbury acquaintances.
Finds CD’s journal very entertaining and interesting, but thinks his style in first part too much influenced by Humboldt.
Sends some books by Harriet Martineau and Archbishop Whately.
Rejoices that the more he sees of Negroes, the better he thinks of them.
Finds his journal interesting; they will read it aloud to Papa on winter evenings. They all regret the long time the journey is taking.
Urges CD to visit Flores Island near Montevideo if he has not already done so. Describes formation of greenstone and the granite formations on small islands in the Uruguay channel.
Sends specimens from Pôrto Alegre [Brazil] for identification by CD.