This book contains copies of handwritten letters from two adventurers (ancestors of the author). One of them, Matthew Hackney, wrote to his parents in Illinois about his travels aboard a whaling ship to Australia and New Zealand in the1830's, and his near-fatal exploration of Western Australia. James, his brother, wrote letters from Mexico in 1846 and from the California Gold Rush in 1850. The letters were copied for readability purposes by a grandson of James Hackney.