From Leonard Darwin to Emma Darwin 26 September [1875]

Dear mother

I was very glad to get your long letter from Down dated May 15^th.; I always thought there must have been some missing and this has supplied the gap; and given good deal of ""news""  I was afraid that father might have been done up by coming down the docks to see me off as he ran nearly half way round them; but I hope he was not as you say nothing about it. I have just completed my weeks duty by marching the men to Church, to which only the officer on duty need go, I am thankful to say; it has been a very busy week for me, for besides my duty, office work and a court martial, I have had to go calling on all the married RE officers. I have had delightful bathing every afternoon till yesterday when a Gregali, or strong north wind, set in and made us feel happy and cool, and sent such breakers into the bathing place that it would be impossible to bathe. I felt the heat a good deal for the first three or four days it made me feel so flabby; at least I suppose it was the heat for there was nothing wrong with me. I had always an idea that it was a bad thing to drink too much fluid when it was hot, and I carried my theory so far that I was ready to burst with thirst at meal times. But now it seems to me to be better to fill up the engine with cold water when necessary. The thermometer is a most unsatisfactory instrument; it has not been higher than 78 or 80^0^ in the rooms, and I suppose that it is sometimes as hot as that in England, and yet I am sure it is not so hot really. I think I told you that I was ""on a district"" under a Major James; our district includes all the barracks and fortifications in Valetta and Floriana, and two small forts on the other side of the Quarantine Harbour; there only us two in this district, and as there is more going on than I expected, there will be plenty to do for both of us. The big bits of work are getting ready the positions for two 38 ton guns which are coming out from England soon. At present I am doing a very humble little job; estimating the cost of a small alteration in some barracks; I dont know how to do it, so I have to keep bothering the clerks or foremen of works every two minutes. till they wish they were doing it themselves.

I am glad to find here a Lieut. R.A called Adams who is fond of a long walk; we have just been a long stump together, about 10 miles into the interior of the island, I cant call it country. It consists of a lot of little fields of reddish earth surrounded by loose stone walls, and every now and then a solitary tree or a prickly pear. There are innumerable little roads with these walls on each side running over the whole island. There are a great number of little towns, all much the same I believe; with narrow streets of yellow flat roofed houses and an open square with a large church in the middle. The natives seem to have very fancyful ideas about plantations; very near our house there are some small trees planted in rows, which look very skinny now and will to the end of all time I expect. The natives objected strongly to these being planted as they said they would habour briggands—the plantations being only the size of our sandwalk

There is the most wonderful amount of shipping in this port, about half a dozen English steamers come in every day; I presume that coaling is the object. Now we have several men of war in the habour in sight of our windows and we can hear their bands playing. Amongst other responsibilities here, I am given a pass key for the fortifications for which there is a fine of £40 for losing it. Thank Retta if she is at home still for her letter.—but I hope she will have vanished some where by this time. Our boy has just fallen flat down in the hall when standing still, it was thought to have been a fit, but no, it was the second time he had worn boots in his life, and they were slippery. Well I must leave off now and toddle down to the office, to go on estimating. The Italian mail comes in and goes out nearly the same time so that I know there will be a letter for me at the office.

Love to all | Your affec son | Leonard Darwin