From what he says, there is no place in the world, except Iceland,
where boiling springs and geysers are so large and plentiful. The
doctor goes home by this mail, and I suppose there will soon be a
good work published by him, giving a description of all he has
seen. I hope to visit New Zealand as soon as I return from the
interior of this country.

Ever your affectionate son,

WILLIAM J. WILLS.

. . .

It will be perceived by the foregoing letters how diligently
and anxiously he corresponded with his mother, sisters, and brother
in England, and how anxiously he desired the mental improvement of
the latter. In his next communications he prepares them for the
probability of his being one of the exploring party. Yet he wrote
on the subject as he had done to me, with reserve, until the matter
should be finally settled. He knew the anxiety it would occasion,
and in the event of his not obtaining the appointment he so
earnestly sought for, he wished to avoid creating that anxiety
unnecessarily.

The same mail which bore his letter of the 18th of November to his
mother, carried also the following to his sister:

MY DEAR BESSY,

I do not mean to bother you with such a long letter this time as I