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.
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