The object of the leave which he was about to take being the recovery of his shattered health, he proceeded homeward by a prolonged sea voyage in a sailing vessel, which in those days was recognized as the most effective step to that end. Sailing from Calcutta on August 2, 1826, and going by the Straits and China route, he reached England and rejoined his family in the following May.
Of his life during this furlough, little need be said beyond what has been already mentioned in the Biographical Sketch. But as he felt himself regaining strength his restored energy soon overcame all thought of real rest; his time was well occupied in travelling, walking tours, studying, drawing, and in pursuit of practical knowledge; and he also seized the opportunity of employment in the Irish Ordnance Survey, in which the experience gained proved of the highest importance to him in his subsequent work in the Revenue Survey of India.
By this stay in England his health was greatly, but not fully restored. In fact, the germs of the Arakan fever had been so thoroughly implanted in his constitution that he never threw them off, and they affected his strength and his staying powers permanently.
But by the end of the summer of 1829 it was time for him to return to duty; and he accordingly sailed a second time for India on September 2, accompanied by a sister and his brother John, who had passed through Haileybury, and was now starting
