From Henry Holland   4 November [1870]1

72 Brook Street

Nov 4th

My dear Charles,

A few lines, merely to say that a month this autumn in Jamaica, & other W. Indian Islands, has brought me still-more closely within the circle of your doctrine, both as regards the vegetable & the human world. I had no adequate idea before of the luxuriant struggle of tropical vegetation, & of that wonderful parasitic life which plays so large a part in it.

I am interrupted here, but had little indeed more to say than this.

Ever your’s affecy | H Holland

The year is established by Holland’s reference to the West Indies: he visited the West Indies in 1870 (Holland 1872, pp. 43, 313).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-7357,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-7357