Dear Periwinkle,-Since that memorable, not to say miserable, day, when you and I parted at Saint Katherine's Docks, with the rain streaming from our respective noses-rendering tears superfluous, if not impossible-and the noise of preparation for departure damaging the fervour of our "farewell"-since that day, I have ploughed with my "adventurous keel" upwards of six thousand miles of the "main," and now write to you from the wild Karroo of Southern Africa.