1867 Feb 2; London; Reflecting the artist's well-known enthusiasm for strange and grotesque animals. He thanks his correspondent for arranging to send him a hollow tree. "Nine feet would be just about the thing...I have just looked at my owls, who are in the grandest feather." He goes on to comment on Melville's Omoo, comparing it with Defoe and Poe's "Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym."