My dear Darwin

I must tell you how glad I was today to see that your son had come out second for Engineers at Woolwich, thus rivalling his brother at Cambridge.¹ It must be a great comfort to you and M^rs. Darwin to see one after the other doing themselves such credit. I hope it is an earnest of a splendid career for him in that fine Corps, which leads to so many opportunities of distinction both in the military and Civil Services.

I hope you are still pretty well, and all your party quite well. I went to Southampton a few weeks since to see a family off by steamer, and I called at the Bank to see your son² but he was not in.

We were very glad to make the acquaintance of M^r. & M^rs. Langton, and of his father also;³ they have had the worst weather I ever saw in Bournemouth but they keep very well.

I saw our old shipmate Usborne⁴ when passing through Plymouth lately, he has been getting up small steamers to run up & down the harbour and I crossed with him in the “Beagle”— He desired to be kindly remembered to you.

Did you see the account of L^t Musters—(a nephew of Hamonds & our poor little shipmate) having made a years journey with the Patagonians from South to North, going round by the Andes.⁵ At the Geographical they thought he was the first European that had been there: but our German catechist of S. A. Mission spent a year going over the same ground about nine years since.⁶ I hope Musters had the means with him of fixing positions; he had been out in the River Plate looking after some sheep farm that he started when serving on the station

Our second son⁷ who came home so ill last year with fever from Mediterrean went out some months since to join a ship on Coast of Africa. I suppose because the Doctors who invalided him reported that he ought not to be sent to a station where he would be liable to fever for three years. As he wanted a sea going ship of course he did not like to refuse it, but it showed utter indifference on the part of our Naval head-man. The eldest⁸ last week was in a harbour ship at Plymouth when a Lieut was wanted at an hours notice to join a ship just starting for China—so he volunteered for the sake of getting to sea

With our kind regards to M^rs. Darwin and all your party believe me | very sin^ly yours | B. J. Sulivan