WCP1344

Letter (WCP1344.1123)

[1]

Singapore

26th August 1861

Dear Sir,

I received with much pleasure your letter1 of July {2 — Ternate2 20 — Surabaya3,4 — the invoice in return for your box must be since a long time in the hands of Mr Stevens5 (London).

I am getting for you a complete set of my duplicates from Siam,6 Cambodia and the Malayan Peninsula. From the last I have certainly many sorts new for you. Since two years my people collecting in Ligor,7 Tringanu8 [sic] [some text illeg.] (I have 3000 sorts from the Peninsula) — the box will contain 1200 specimens. I desire in exchange a complete set of your duplicates from Dorey,9 Ternate, Buru10 and Timor11 [2] from those localities I have nothing — from Menado12 I am almost in the same case. I have a great many from Ceram;13 my people are since one year in Sumatra14 and they are going to Borneo.15 I have people in Cambodia and Birmania16 [sic] and I am going to send an expedition to Laos very soon.

You will find the box ready for you at Singapore. If I [wait] not there it would be in the hands of the owner of the hotel d'Europe Mr Castelyns.17

I should like you on your arrival in England to make [3] me an invoice of 2000 insects that will be an advance of 800 that I will pay by with insects of Birmania [sic], Laos, Cambodia and Labuan18 when they will come.

I remain, Dear sir, in expecting the pleasure of seeing you here | your's [sic] int.ly[?] | Count de Castelnau19 [signature]

Consul of France at Siam

hotel d'Europe Singapore

1
your letter: [cross referencing to this letter in the volume]
2
An island in Indonesia, part of the Moluccas, or Maluku Islands.
3
A port city on the Indonesian island of Java.
4
The text "2 — Ternate" was written above "20 — Surabaya".
5

Stevens, Samuel (1817-1899). British entomologist and dealer in natural

history specimens; agent of ARW.

6
Thailand.
7
Now the Nakhon Si Thammarat Kingdom in Thailand, Ligor was a city-state in the Malay Peninsula.
8
Now a state of Malaysia, Terengganu (or Trengganu or Tringganu) was a state of the Thai Rattanakosin Kingdom.
9
Dore Bay is in West Papua, Indonesia, on the western end of the island of New Guinea, with the port town of Manokwari.
10
An island in Indonesia, part of the Moluccas, or Maluku Islands.
11
An island in Indonesia.
12
Menado (Manado) is a city on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi (then Celebes).
13
Now Seram, an island in Indonesia, part of the Moluccas, or Maluku Islands.
14
A large island in eastern Indonesia, situated to the west of Java and south of the Malay Peninsula.
15
A large island in the Malay Archipelago, now split between Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei.
16
Birmanie, the French name for Burma (now Myanmar).
17
Mr and Mrs J. Casteleyns opened the Hotel de l'Europe at 36, Hill Street, Singapore in 1858.
18
A territory in East Malaysia, then under British control.
19
Laporte, François Louis Nompar de Caumont (1810-1880). French naturalist and French Consul to Siam.

Editorial information

Status: Edited (but not proofed) transcription [Letter (WCP1344.1123)]

For more information about the transcriptions and metadata, see https://wallaceletters.myspecies.info/content/epsilon

Revision history

Transcribed by Knott, Peter [2012-10-22] Transcription checked by Catchpole, Caroline [2013-01-15] Transcription checked by Barton, Michael [2018-11-01]

Please cite as “WCP1344,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 28 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP1344