Butler's first book, published in 1863, is a lively compilation of letters that he sent to his family while working as a sheep farmer in New Zealand for several years. Financed and edited into book form by Butler's father, it is a spirited account of Butler's experiences on the frontier. This volume also includes nineteen early essays on such varied topics as Darwin's "Origins of Species." "The Tempest," English cricketeers, the Italian presthood, and translating Herodotus.