From Leonard Darwin to Emma Darwin 22 November [1874]

Dear mother

I sent off one small letter by the San F. mail but as that seems a very uncertain way I send a yet smaller one by Suez. I have not had any letters for an age it seems to me and I believe that the San. F mail has gone wrong, gone on to Australia so that it delays the letters nearly a fortnight. I believe if it was not for our horses we should go mad at Burnham as any other exercise seems impossible. I have only taken one walk straight to nowhere and straight back and all in sight of the Reformatory. There is a river about 5 miles off that we generally ride to, but there is nothing much to be seen there, except where they have planted English grass, which changes the whole look of the place from the dull sandy yellow of the everlasting tussocks to a bright green. Crawford has been sent off to observe the transit further south in case of clouds here. We have got a Naval Lieutenant called Praed up here to help us with the work but he will only stay till Dec. 9 which I am sorry for as he is a pleasant man. There is some talk of sending a chronometric expedition down to Chatham, Auckland and Campbell islands, where the different foreign expeditions are; I should like to go on it very much both for the sake of seeing the islands and to know what life on a man of war is like, but I am afraid that Praed will go instead.

All the foreign expeditions are going to vanish directly after the transit, and as we shall tray about two months they are all rather anxious to get their difference of longitude with us  In fact they want the amusement and give us the work. We have had no visitors out here except an old Waterloo veteran, who served for 7 years in the army at that time and still puts Lieutenant before his time; he was a nice old boy, but talked the most awful bosh about astronomy, a subject which he had studied a good deal he said. It is Sunday afternoon and we are going to take a half holiday with a long ride on the plains. Next letter will give you details of the awful day; the preparations in my line and nearly complete

Your affec son | Leonard Darwin