Mr. Taylor, district surveyor at Ballaarat, obtained for him an
admission as an amateur into his office. He there set to work with
his characteristic industry to perfect himself in trigonometry and
Euclid; drawing and mapping in the office by day, and working hard
in his own room by night. On rising from bed in the morning, I have
found him sitting as I had left him, working out his point, for he
never deserted anything he had once taken up until he mastered it.
At the expiration of a few months, Mr. Taylor promised me to
introduce him to a gentleman in the survey department named Byerly,
with a view to reciprocal services. On the 20th of August, 1856, he
speaks for himself in a letter to his mother from Glendaruel:

MY DEAR MOTHER,

I have at length found time to write to you. You will no doubt
expect a long letter after so much delay, but I am afraid you will
be disappointed, as long letters are not my forte. In your last,
you asked me to send Bessy any information I could. I can assure
you I shall be most happy to do so, and to encourage her taste for
knowledge as much as lies in my power. I send her Bonwick's
Geography of Australia, which is a very useful little book, and in
most instances correct.

You must not look upon it as infallible. For instance, he says Lake
Burrambeet is in the Pyrenees, whereas it is more than twenty miles
from those mountains. But this may be a misprint. I would recommend
you to let the children learn drawing. I do not mean merely
sketching, but perspective drawing, with scale and compasses. It is
a very nice amusement, and may some day be found extremely useful.
There is another thing would do them much good, if they should