My dear Darwin

After all my hopes of returning home I find we are to remain out to work in this river¹ and shall not certainly be home for a year, at first I thought of sending you all the fossils,² but I fear the casks being knocked about, unless one of the steamers should go direct home to Woolwich when I would perhaps send them. That you may be able to form an Idea of the formation in which the fossils are, and their probable age, I send by this packet a few in a small box which were by accident left out of the casks. the large piece you will see has three marks on it, it is part of a piece in the casks also marked with three cuts, which will show you the pieces likely to contain fragments of the same animal, some large pieces are broken in three or four pieces, but each piece was marked with the same number of cuts at the time so they can easily be fitted together again— Most of the small fragments came from the same piece, but there is a piece of white paper in the box containing a small piece of the armour like the Megatherium, and a small piece of bone petrified— they were found at the foot of the cliff among some shingle that had fallen from the surface at the summit of the cliff and are I suppose of the same age as those you found. You will also find in the box two pieces containing casts of shells, which are from the Falklands. I suppose they are similar to those you have but they come from Saunders Island near Port Egmont further to the Westward than any I had before found.³

I was much surprised yesterday at seeing Rugendas,⁴ who you will recollect at Valparaiso (the German artist & traveller) walk into the house. he is on his way from Buenos Ayres to England having been ever since we left him in Chili Peru and Mexico. he has sent to London about two thousand drawings and is going to publish when he returns⁵

I hope I shall have an answer the next packet to the letter I wrote to you from the Falklands as I am anxious to know if the Fossils surprise you as much as they did me.

we are all daily expecting to be involved in hostilities with Rosas⁶ certain demands have been made on him by the English and French Ministers which it is said he will not listen to, if so it is supposed we shall compel him, he threatens to seize British Merchants and property and take them up the country, and I fear he is trying to make us fear being firm least our countrymen suffer, for a scotch Family of nine, Father Mother & Children have all had their throats cut near Buenos Ayres. This Place still holds out. Most dreadful butcheries in the country Rosas troops lately killed above 500 prisoners in cold blood near Maldonado, principally Indians who had been serving Reveira⁷

M^rs. Sulivan & chicks go home in two months. our boy (14 months old) broke his arm six weeks since but is now well again⁸ I hope M^rs. Darwin & young ones are well. M^rs. Sulivan joins me in kind rembrances to her

Believe me dear Darwin | Your sincere friend | B J Sulivan