Successful Exploration Through the Interior of Australia Part 4

Your affectionate son,

WILLIAM J. WILLS.

Magnetic Observatory, Melbourne, June 17th, 1859.

MY DEAR BESSY,

I must write a few lines to you, more especially as I wrote to Hannah by the last mail; but mind, I must have a long answer by return of post. I want to know whether Charles got the maps of the stars that I told him to get some time ago. If so, he should begin at once to keep a register of meteors. In the first place, let him get a book--a good copybook would do--and rule it according to the following form, to which I have attached an example:--

Column 1: Number (Name) of Meteor.

Column 2: Day of Month.

Column 3: Hour of Day.

Column 4: Alt.i.tude. At commencement.

Column 5: Alt.i.tude. At end.

Column 6: Azimuth. At commencement.

Column 7: Azimuth. At end.

Column 8: Description of its situation with respect to certain Stars.

At commencement.

Column 9: Description of its situation with respect to certain Stars.

At end.

1 : June 1 : 8 P.M. : 35 degrees : 20 degrees : north-east : east by south : 2 or 3 degrees below Spice. : To Anthers.

Column 1: Size of Meteor.

Column 2: Length of Tail.

Column 3: Colour of Meteor.

Column 4: Duration of Meteor.

Column 5: Duration of Tail.

Column 6: REMARKS.

Column 7: Observer.

May 2 : 5 degrees : Yellow : 1 second : 3 seconds : Small, but very bright. : west.

The time should be very carefully noted. If there is anything in the form that he does not understand he must ask me about it when he writes. The alt.i.tude and azimuths will only be approximate, but the main thing is to see how the shooting stars are situated with reference to the fixed stars. It is of great importance to note these meteors, even the small ones, as very little is yet known of them; and every observation, if carefully made, will some day help to show what they are. The object in noting the stars they pa.s.s by is this: that if two or more observers see the same meteor from places several miles from one another, the comparison of their observations will generally give a means of ascertaining the distance of the meteor from the earth. But it is getting late, and I will write to Charley more about it by next mail; only tell him to make himself well acquainted with the stars. Give my love to him and Hannah, your aunt M., and old Anne; and tell me in your next how the latter is getting on: and do not forget to let me know all about Charley and how he spends his time. I am afraid that you little girls take him out walking too much, and make him read pretty stories instead of the books he ought to be studying.

Your affectionate brother,

WILLIAM J. WILLS.

Magnetic Observatory, Melbourne, July 14th, 1859.

MY DEAR MOTHER,

The news by the last mail has put us all in a state of excitement about our defenses, in the event of England being involved in the continental war. Melbourne is badly situated in case of an invasion. There is at present not the least protection; and unless the home government sends us out two or three good war steamers, we shall most certainly get a good thrashing some day.

The French have possession of the island of New Caledonia, which is not very far from here, and is a convenient place of rendezvous for them. I see by your letter to my father that you are rather afraid the French may invade England. For my part I believe they have more sense. It is the most hopeless thing they can attempt. I send you two or three photographs; they are very poor, and not stereoscopic as I intended. The artist made a failure of the matter and gave me these. He is going to try it again some day with a better camera; but as that would be too late for the mail I must send you these now, and you may expect better next time. I find that the mail is to close this afternoon instead of Monday morning, but if a supplementary bag should be made up on Monday I will write again. I hope that in future you will direct my letters to Melbourne instead of Ballaarat, for I seldom get them until the return mail is about to start. We have had some rather cold weather lately; that is, the thermometer has been below thirty-two degrees once or twice, which is cold for us. I am glad to hear that Charley has been appointed to the Bank, as it is a good thing for all parties at present. I fear that I shall be unable to send you a News Letter this time. I wish you would tell me whether you find anything of interest in them; also whether you would like to have the Argus sometimes.

Adieu for the present, my dear mother,

Your affectionate son,

WILLIAM J. WILLS.

August 6th, 1859.

MY DEAR MOTHER,

You see I have sent you the News Letter for this month, with a long account of an unfortunate shipwreck that happened on the coast last month. It is a wonder how those pa.s.sengers that were saved managed to exist so long without food. The only reasonable explanation that has been offered is, that as they were continually wet, from the sea breaking over them, a large quant.i.ty of moisture must have been absorbed by the skin, otherwise they could never have lived so long without fresh water. It must have been an awkward situation to be in. I fancy I would rather have been drowned at once; but it is not easy to judge how we should feel under the circ.u.mstances, unless we had tried it. As Pope says, 'Hope springs eternal in the human breast; man never is,' etc. (of course you know the rest). It strikes me that the height of happiness is, to hope everything and expect nothing, because you have all the satisfaction of hope, and if you get nothing you are not disappointed; but if you obtain what you want, you are agreeably surprised.

Your affectionate son,

WILLIAM J. WILLS.

Flagstaff Observatory, Melbourne, August 15th, 1859.

MY DEAR MOTHER,

I am glad to be able to acknowledge the receipt by this mail of the first letter that you have sent to me direct since I have been in Melbourne. It is satisfactory to know that you are pleased with the News Letters; I must endeavour to send them regularly. I had a letter from my father to-day. He has received yours, which we feared was lost, as he saw nothing of it for some days after the mail was in; but he found it at Bath's Hotel. One must make some little allowance for a mother's partiality in your account of B.

and H.; I hope your prejudice against novels does not prevent their reading those of Thackeray and d.i.c.kens, every one of whose works, especially the former, should be read by them, for they contain some of the best things, both in a moral and literary point of view, that we have in the English language. I shall be more careful in future about the postage; and now, my dear mother, with love to yourself and all,

I remain,

Your affectionate son,

WILLIAM J. WILLS.

Flagstaff Observatory, Melbourne, September 15th, 1859.

MY DEAR MOTHER,

I was rather disappointed at not receiving a letter from any one by the last mail. I have not heard from my father since it arrived.

I conclude he has not sent me your letters to him, thinking that I have received some myself. I suppose you are all glad that the war has ended so unexpectedly. It is to be hoped that the peace will be a permanent one, although people here generally appear to think that it will not prove so. The election of members for our lower house will soon terminate. Judging from the results already known, we are likely to have a curious Parliament this time. Our winter is nearly over. Last night there was a festival held in honour of Alexander von Humboldt. It was unfortunately a very wet evening, which prevented a great many from attending who would otherwise have been there. I hope you are all in good health. It would have pleased you much to have seen the two splendid auroras, of which I have sent Charley a description. At one time it was light enough to read a newspaper out of doors, after the moon went down. I must now say adieu. With much love to all,

Believe me, my dear mother,

Your affectionate son,

WILLIAM J. WILLS.