WCP2218

[1]

Hillfield,

Reigate.

9^th March 1869

My dear Sir,

Allow me to thank you for a copy of your work on the East India Islands¹ which reached me safely through the post. The work I shall prize not only on account of its intrinsic merits which appear to me to be very great from the cursory view I have taken of it, but on account of [2] its author, the best natural history traveller & collector who ever left this country in whose doings & welfare I took the most lively interest — Your exertions in the cause of natural history will never be forgotten as long as the literature of the science lasts, & I trust you may long enjoy health to bring forward to the public the many & important [3] discoveries which you have made—

Believe me | yours very truly | W Wilson Saunders [signature]

A. R. Wallace Esq