No summary available.
No summary available.
Asks about closure of Hertford library and sale of its books; describes his rail journey to Kington area, ecstatic about outdoor pleasures of enjoying nature while land surveying; Chartists are gaining strength, ominous for nation.
Hertford Literary Society; Penny Post; countryside around Kington; Chartist trials; Crutwell and other acquaintances in Hertford.
Journey to Alexandria; life on board ship, fellow travellers, anti-cholera precautions at Gibraltar, Cairo, the desert, Alexandria, donkey drivers.
Sailing for Sarawak next day; arranging and cataloguing collection of 6,000 specimens - birds, insects and shells; impossibility of collecting plants for William Hooker; pleasure at quotation by Latham; any news of Sebastopol; wanting copies of Punch; expedition to Mount Ophir.
ARW's love of solitude; suggests Silk reads his article [with Darwin about natural selection] in August Linnean Society Proceedings; proud of complimentary remarks by Lyell and Hooker therein; dislike of politics; interest in ethnology; asks about books read; has read Tristram Shandy and novels by Dumas; marriage; sending an article on "smoke" for The Athenaeum.
Leon du Four's History of Prostitution and Darwin's Origin of Species. Two months spent in Ternate dealing with a year's mail, cleaning, arranging and packing collections of birds, insects and shells for shipment to England and preparing for further expeditions; paper on "The native trade with New Guinea" sent to the Geographical.
Plans to return to England; GS's preoccupation with politics; ARW's paper on New Guinea Native Trade, Blondin, Mr Fechter; Great Expectations; wet season in Sumatra; jungle animals; monkey behaviour; Malay language and customs; [Mony's] book on Java; Dutch and British colonial government; GS's siblings; Marriage, desirable qualities in a wife.
Describes voyage from Liverpool to Pará [Belém] which was achieved in 31 days (26 April - 28 May); detailed description of City, including its public spaces and buildings. Rented a house "nearer the woods"; abundance of oranges and bananas and low cost of beef; striking racial mix in the City of Europeans, Africans, and Amerindians; enjoys climate, has been collecting insects and comments on variety; collected 400 "distinct kinds"; hopes to collect plants when he gets his own house; will send word when a parcel is expected.
ARW has just finished Man's Place in the Universe and is thinking of beginning a little sketch of his early life, partly for Will and Violet. His recollections of dates at Hertford are hazy, so requests GCS to help and gives a list of points which he asks GCS to answer, telling him to look at old books and letters, such as the date of his going to London to board with Mr Webster to whom John was apprenticed. Does GCS remember how ARW came to be known as Buzz Wallace at school? ARW has just had an article in the New York literary paper The Independent; gives GCS family news.