I have a most schoolboy-like wish to be there, enjoying my holidays.

It is a most comfortable reflection to me, that a ship being made of wood and iron, cannot last for ever, and therefore this voyage must have an end.
October 28th.

This letter has been lying in my portfolio ever since July; I did not send it away because I did not think it worth the postage; it shall now go with a box of specimens.

Shortly after arriving here I set out on a geological excursion, and had a very pleasant ramble about the base of the Andes.

The whole country appears composed of breccias (and I imagine slates) which universally have been modified and oftentimes completely altered by the action of fire.