Bahia Packet letters written by DON GUILLERMO HARTNELL were sent to his DEAR MOTHER + sisters Hannah + Mary in Backbarrow Lancashire England

+++  ’I am sorry that circumstances have not permitted me in conscience to do much more, for until I receive accounts from Mr. Brotherston of the results of our two expeditions from this country to your place I can form no idea of what I am actually worth and must therefore for the present put bounds to the gratitude I owe to the best of mothers; yet I am fully confident that he will advance you on my account any reasonable sum you may require.  ++  ’I assure you that I am equally  anxious with yourself to return once more to the bosom of my family but God knows when I shall receive that pleasure.  Yet I firmly trust that the day is not far distant when I shall have the consolation of throwing myself at the feet and receiving the blessing of my beloved Mother, whom that the Almighty may preserve many years in this life and finally crown with bliss in that which is to come is the fervent prayer of her dutiful & affectionate Son.’  ++  Not only are the family worried because the years go by and William seems no closer to his return to England, but they imagine all sorts of dangers assailing their loved one in the wilds of California.  From reassuring his mother as to his desire for an early reunion, William turns to his worrying sister Mary with reassurance about conditions in his adopted country:  ++  ’California is not such a dreadful country as you imagine; it is true there are burning mountains and forests infested with wild beasts, but these lay out of the main road and it is not necessary to go near them without one likes.  Although I have been here almost two years and have traveled from one end of the country to the other three or four times, I have only once met with a bear on the road and that ran away to the woods as soon as it perceived me.  These animals are extremely savage when they are attacked, but if left unmolested they seldom or never do any harm.’  ++  Scattering his favors, writing a letter to each of his dearly loved family to go at the same sailing, William says to Hannah:  ++  ’I never in my life enjoyed such good health as I do in California.  It is a most beautiful climate and I am as comfortably situated as it is possible for one to be, who so anxiously wishes to return to his native home and to the society of his long lost friends.’  +++