. Taranaki, New Plymouth. April 21st. 1846. My dear Duncan, It may perhaps sometimes occur to your mind that you have a cousin in some distant part of the world, without reflecting as to where the particular place is, further than that some faint remembrances may call to recollection your early days; when you sportively played and enjoyed the company of that cousin, with affectionate regard. Doubts may also arise as to whether he still exists or not; which it is the intention of this epistle to set aside. In these days to which I have just alluded, I had, in some respects, the advantage of you, more especially in being further advanced in years; and therefore my recollection of your infancy is still as vivid as the most recent occurrences; and from that time, till you were 6 or 7 years of age, and upwards, I was a frequent visitor and participator of your father's and mother's hospitality and friendship; and throughout that period, strong feelings of mutual affection and love existed between yourself, Helen, May, and I; and many a burst of tears have freely flown down your cheeks, when you used to hear of my leaving Ardluing. These, my dear cousin, are boyish scenes that I have been cursorily depicting, and such as can never again be recalled. As you are now, though youngest arriving at years of maturity, which, as they increase, may, I trust, call upon both of us to use our exertions in bettering our circumstances; and improving and developing the resources of our minds, that if we advance in pecuniary matters, we may