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 and thought he could get out into the sun to avoid it, and that once or twice, from heat and headache, he thought he had gone mad and was carried along not knowing why. One of his bearers dropped down dead the last day from mere heat. He arrived at twelve at night, and had Giles called up and got some tea, and was pretty well again the next morning; but he says the house is so cold after what he has been through that it makes him chilly. The ‘Conway,’ in which he is to go to China, came up to Calcutta the day he arrived, so I suppose he will be off in a fortnight. He goes merely as a volunteer. The Chinese are so clever; I fully expect they will circumvent us—blow up all our ships with curious-coloured fireworks, or do some odd thing in their usual neat way.

We are very anxious for the next post; the last was so uncommonly interesting with all those debates about the Queen and the ministry.

God bless you dearest sister!

Yours most affectionately, 1em