WCP1702

[1]

Singapore

May 12th. 1856.

My dear M^r. Stevens

At last the expected vessel has arrived, having been sent to Bally [Bali] & Lombock, & delayed by calms. It will sail again in 4-5 days; so I shall not be able to get the next mail ^first. We have to go again to Bally where we shall stay a few days, & I shall try to pick up something. Our voyage against the monsoon will be about 45 days. You will see therefore that to get from Sarawak to Macassar [Makassar] has ^{will have} taken me, (a months waiting at Sarawak, ½ month voyage,— 3 months at Singapore, and 1½ month to Macassar,) in all 6 months utterly lost & at great expense. Such things people never reckon when estimating the profits of collectors. However I will take all precautions that such a thing shall not happen again, & trust that the country I am now going to will repay me for it. I trust such instructions will arrive to Hamilton Gray & Co.¹ by this mail as to enable them to forward me money without any more difficulty as 3 months expenses here & the necessary stores have made a great hole in the £100 they let me draw for.

I have made preparations for collecting extensively by engaging a good man to shoot & skin birds & animals,² which I think in the countries I am now going to will pay me very well. When in Singapore before small shot was abundant, now I have had great difficulty in getting [one illeg. word crossed out] a bag at a high price— You had better therefore send me 2 bags of No. 10 shot ^{and 2 of No. 6} with the other shoes ^{& 2000 percussion caps} &c. in a month or two, in a strong packing case.

Ask M^r Gould³ or M^r Sclater⁴ if the remainder of Bonaparte[’]s Conspectus,⁵ cont[inuin]^g the Gallinaceae &c. is out, & if so send it me by post. I enclose a letter for Bates⁶ which please forward him when you next write.⁷ The Papilio Codrus? at the sale, I see sold for more than £1. which makes me hope to do well with the fine & rare Papilionidae of Celebes & the Moluccas. [2] I have heard again from Bowring⁸ who tells me that the duplicates of his Java coll[ectio]ⁿ are not numerous & that he will keep them all to exchange with me when I return to England— He comes home for his health by next mail so you will probably see him. Remember never dispose of all the duplicates of any of my species to the foreign dealers, always leave from 2 to 12 for me. I have been making a small collection of crustacea from the market. The small ones I can succeed with pretty well, but those of large size will rot & fall to pieces notwithstanding all my care to dry them. Will the B[ritish] M[useum] buy fish from here or from Celebes &c.. There is a young man who would make a collection. How did Madame Pfeiffer⁹ preserve hers. She must have had a good many to fetch £25.

I have just taken to Hamilton Gray’s two boxes. The larger one contains a lot of books principally of classics and Divinity about 170 volumes. There is a list of them at the top of the box. Quaritch¹⁰ who lives in a court out of Leicester Square, a dealer in all dictionaries & prayer books will I dare say buy them, or another man in Holborn who deals almost entirely in school books— You can shew¹¹ the list to two or three such persons & accept the highest offer. I should think they will fetch from £10 to £20. ^If Can you ^can find no one to buy the whole, they must be sold by auction, & you can send the proceeds deducting expenses & your Commission by an order on the Oriental Bank to Mr Geo[rge] Rappa Jun[io]r¹² (care of W. Craal M^r. W[illia]^m Kraal¹³ at Hamilton Gray & Co. Singapore). He is the son of the collector who lived many years at Malacca,¹⁴ but has quarrelled with his father & is very badly off. At the top of the box are two volumes of mine the Cyclopedia of Nat[ural]. History,¹⁵ which I find too bulky to carry about, so please keep it for me.

Also 2-3 shells private in a little brown box in which is also a chinese glass toy, which give to Mr Sims¹⁶. Insure for £20[.] Books for £10.¹⁷

In the other case are 2 monkey skins, 38 crustacea, 70 small shells, and near 700 insects, for sale; with about 440 insects for private collection and 37 Birds all private; the monkey’s scull¹⁸ is also private. There are also a few articles addressed to Mrs. Wallace¹⁹ [3] and M^r Sims. I have put a complete set of the insects now collected in Singapore for my private coll[ectio]ⁿ but there ^are several among them of which I got one specimen only before, the least perfect of the two specimens may therefore now go to Mr Saunders²⁰ if you will carefully collec select them. There are many pretty new things shewing that Singapore is far from exhausted yet, & would furnish hosts of novelties to a resident collector.

The "Water Lily"²¹ will be near arriving I hope soon after you get this, & I trust the Orang skins will arrive in good condition. Remember the spectacles I mentioned in my last ^{some time back to be repaired & 1 pair new}. The endogenous wood is I think of a species of Dracaena. Lobb²² is still here waiting to go to Labuan. He appears a first rate collector & has had great experience in the East. If the B[ritish] M[useum] take any of the Crustacea will you ask M^r. White²³ as a favour to furnish me with a list of them, as there are only about 15 or 20 species. The fish were most beautiful & varied & I longed to make a collection but I could not afford to lay out money on a cask of Arrack.²⁴ There are among the insects I think a few diptera which were not sent before, these must be added to the list. The few books I have returned, keep for me. I shall thus gradually reduce my luggage as I go on. I think you will find that my male orangs are quite as large as that in B[ritish] M[useum] & the large one in the last cask probably larger. At all events none of the specimens described by Temminck²⁵, Owen²⁶, or Blyth²⁷ are larger than mine. But appearances are deceptive & every one believes they are larger than measurement shews them to be.²⁸ Of course I wish you always to select for me first any Lepidoptera not already in my private collection to make the series for each locality complete. Also keep the localities in separate Boxes. Drawing on you is a very expensive way of getting money here, as besides getting only a dollar for 4^s/10 ¾ ^d I am charged 2½ per cent commission by H[amilton]. G[ray] &Co. for negotiating the bill, which makes each dollar cost me 5^s/. [4] I have not much more to say, but that I shall always like to hear what is wanted from the countries I am about to visit. I presume good specimens of even the common lories Cockatoes²⁹ &c. will sell, and I expect to get a good many new & some very handsome birds. If I can reach the bird of Paradise Country (the Arroo Isles) I shall be able to prepare good specimens of those gorgeous birds, one of the greatest treats I can look forward to.

I shall have I think 4 or 5 months of fine weather at Macassar & can then if inclined go on to Amboyna [Ambon] & have a fine season there, as the seasons are reversed in all the Islands E. of Macassar & Timor— by this going backwards & forward I hope to be able to escape the wet season for the next two years. I enclose a long letter to Bates which please forward to him by the first opportunity & I hope he will write to me in return.

Lobb has been in Moulmein [Mawlamyine] & Burmah [Myanmar] which he says is the finest country he has been in for plants and he thinks all branches of Nat[ural]. Hist[ory]. but very expensive travelling & other expenses. He does not think much of the Moluccas for plants but I have great faith in them for insects & birds. I hope a new Cheirotomus or something equally fine may turn up, & I think I deserve one at least. My next letter will let you know what prospects I have & I trust to have good news to tell you.

Yours sincerely | Alfred R. Wallace [signature]

Sam[ue]^l_. Stevens Esq.