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Bookplate inserted; includes letter from Peter [Henderson] to Miss Heather Menzies, 10 Howard St, Kew, dated 15 July 1949 enclosed between pp. 116 – 117, written in blue pen: “Dear Heather, Though seriously unintentional, your letter was the nicest – quite the nicest of my birthday presents. [/] I am sorry if your family were shaken to the core to know that I was really coming to Ceylon. I did try to give them plenty of warning! [/] England looked, if anything, slightly worse during my brief visit & did not tempt me to stay at all. Having been on the estate 3 weeks today, I’m still glad I came. [/] I’m afraid you would, at the moment be somewhat disappointed by Ceylon’s ‘plenty of sunshine’. We are in the midst of the monsoon, & the weather is just like any English summer; wet, windy and cold. As I spend most of every day in it, I know! [/] As you surmise, the natives are [indecipherable] to my bed, but they don’t yet understand much of my call, which is in very bad Tamil. You ask what I am doing. I am employed by the Ceylon Tea Plantations Co. as a ‘[indecipherable] assistant’ on this estate working extraordinarily hard (6 – 6) for a mere pittance. The work consists mostly of wandering round the 770 acres of tea, ordering people hither & thither as best I can, trying to drum some sense into the Tamil mind (which is quite the [indecipherable] thing imaginable), weighing leaf, getting soaked regularly and having a rare old [indecipherable]. My boss & tutor is a very pleasant man of 32 with a wife, one child, five dogs, pigs, hens, cows, turkeys, ducks & needless to say, a love of farming. We get on extraordinarily well together. [/] I think my family like London very much indeed. Ann has got a job modelling sportwear at Lillywhite’s. [/] I am sorry to hear about [indecipherable] death. I’m sure you will all miss him. [/] My congratulations to brother Ken. I hope he’s very happy in his double state. My regards also to the rest of your family. Love Peter. P.S. I was misinformed my address is just Alton Estate.”