WCP354

Letter (WCP354.354)

[1]1

Bukit Tima [Bukit Timah] Singapore

May 28th. 1854

My Dear Mother

I send you a few lines through G[eorge]. S[ilk].2 as I thought you would like to hear from me. I am very comfortable here living with a Roman Catholic Missionary3 a frenchman who speaks Chineese [sic] Malay & English. I & Charles4 go into the Jungle every day for insects we have seen no tigers in fact they are getting scarcer every day as the jungle is more cleared away. I shall probably stay here another month & then go to Borneo. I send by this mail a small box of insects for Mr Stevens.5 I think a very valuable one & I hope it will go safely. I expected a letter from you by the last Mail but received only two Athenaeums6 of March 18. & 25. Did not you send the 11th. & April 2nd? —

[2] I expected to receive some invoice of the good[s] I sent by the "Eliza Thornton"[.]7 Did not you receive any? Tell Thomas8 I wish he would send me a copy of each of the pictures he took of me in the next letter. Address as before. I hope there is plenty of business. I do not think there is a Daguerreotypist in Singapore but it would not I think answer for long as living is very expensive. I saw a report of Mr. Wilson[’]s paper at the Geolog[ical]. Soc[iety].9 in the Athenaeum. Is he gone yet? Send John’s10 letters or a copy of them to me.

The forest here is very similar to that of S. America — Palms are very numerous but they are generally small & horridly spiny. There are none of the large & majestic species so abundant on the [3] Amazon. I am so busy with insects now that I have no time for anything else. I send now about a thousand beetles to Mr Stevens, & I have as many other insects still on hand which will form part of my next & principal consignment. Singapore is very rich in beetles & before I leave I think I shall have a most beautiful collection — I will tell you how my day is now occupied. Get up at half past 5. Bath & coffee. Sit down to arrange & put away my insects of the day before, & set them safe out to dry. Charles mending nets, filling pincushions & getting ready for the day. Breakfast at 8. Out to the jungle at 9. We have to walk up a steep hill to get to it & always arrive dripping with perspiration — Then we wander about till two or three generally returning with about 50 — 60 beetles, some very rare & beautiful. Bathe, change clothes & sit down to kill & pin insects. Charles do. with flies bugs & wasps, I do not trust him yet with beetles11 — Dinner at 4. Then at work again till six. Coffee — Read— if very numerous work at insects till 8 — 9 then to bed —

Adieu with love to all | Your affectionate Son | Alfred R. Wallace. [signature]

[[4]12

Mrs. Wallace

44 Upper Albany St

for[warde]d[?] by G. C. Silk Esq

1
Parts of the text have been marked in blue pencil, perhaps for later publication.
2
Silk, George Charles (1822-1910). Friend of ARW since childhood; secretary to the Archdeacon of Middlesex, who had clearly sent or passed this letter on to ARW's mother.
3
Mauduit, Anatole Mauduit (1817-1858). Missionary with the Missions Étrangères de Paris at the church of St Joseph, Bukit Timah.
4
Allen, Charles Martin (1839-1892). ARW's assistant in the Malay Archipelago, the Moluccas and New Guinea.
5
Stevens, Samuel (1817-1899). Entomologist and dealer in natural history specimens.
6
The Athenaeum, a British weekly literary magazine in existence between 1828 and 1921 (Graham, W. J. 1930. The Weekly Journal of Belles-Lettres. 311-344. In: Graham, W. J. English Literary Periodicals. New York, NY, USA: T. Nelson & Sons. [pp. 317-320]).
7
The Eliza Thornton of London sailed from Gravesend, 17 March 1854, for Singapore (The Morning Post. Monday, 20 March 1854. Ship News. Gravesend. Findmypast. <https://search.findmypast.co.uk> [accessed 17 July 2018]).
8
Sims, Thomas (1826-1910). Brother-in-law of ARW; photographer.
9
As identified by van Wyhe and Rookmaaker, presumably the paper written by James Spottiswood Wilson, a friend of ARW's brother John Wallace: Wilson, J. S. 1854. On the Gold Regions of California. The Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London. 10(1): 308-321.
10
Wallace, John (1818-1895). Brother of ARW; engineer and surveyor, who had emigrated to California in 1849.
11
The section beginning "not trust him yet with beetles —" ending with Wallace's signature has been written vertically in the left-hand margin.
12
This is a letter sheet and this side of the page, which bears the address, has been annotated "3rd"[?] under the address, but towards the top-right hand corner if the page is rotated to the left.

Editorial information

Status: Edited (but not proofed) transcription [Letter (WCP354.354)]

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

Revision history

Transcribed by Tew, Alison [2006-07-08] Transcription checked by Parfitt, Elisabeth [2012-03-13] Transcription checked by Catchpole, Caroline [2013-01-15] Transcription checked by Watt, Helen [2018-07-30]

Published letter (WCP354.5900)

[1] [p. 48]1

Bukit Tama2, Singapore. May 28, 1854.

My dear Mother,— I send you a few lines through G. Silk3 as I thought you would like to hear from me. I am very comfortable here living with a Roman Catholic missionary.... I send by this mail a small box of insects for Mr. Stevens4 — I think a very valuable one — and I hope it will go safely. I expected a letter from you by the last mail, but received only two Athenaeums of March 18 and 25....

The forest here is very similar to that of South America. Palms are very numerous, but they are generally small and horridly spiny. There are none of the large and majestic species so abundant on the Amazon. I am so busy with insects now that I have no time for anything else. I send [2]5 now about a thousand beetles to Mr. Stevens, and I have as many other insects still on hand which will form part of my next and principal consignment. Singapore is very rich in beetles, and before I leave I think I shall have a most beautiful collection.

I will tell you how my day is now occupied. Get up at half-past five. Bath and coffee. Sit down to arrange and put away my insects of the day before, and set them safe out to dry. Charles6 mending nets, filling pincushions, and getting ready for the day. Breakfast at eight. Out to the jungle at nine. We have to walk up a steep hill to get to it, and always arrive dripping with perspiration. Then we wander about till two or three, generally returning with about 50 or 60 beetles, some very rare and beautiful, bathe, change clothes, and sit down to kill and pin insects. Charles ditto with flies, bugs and wasps; I do not trust him yet with beetles. Dinner at four. Then to work again till six. Coffee. Read. If very numerous, work at insects till eight or nine. Then to bed.

Adieu, with love to all. — Your affectionate son, | ALFRED R. WALLACE.

1
Page 1 has a Header at the top centre of the page which reads " TO HIS MOTHER".
2
This is a misspelling of Bukit Tima which was mentioned in WCP353_P5899.
3
Silk, George Charles (1822-1910). Friend of ARW since childhood; secretary to the Archdeacon of Middlesex.
4
Stevens, Samuel (1817-1899). British entomologist and dealer in natural history specimens; agent of ARW.
5
Page 2 has a Header at the top centre of the page which reads "Early Letters".
6
Allen, Charles Martin (1839-1892). British. ARW's assistant in the Malay Archipelago.

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Published letter (WCP354.5900)]

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

Revision history

Transcribed by Congerton, John [2019-12-17] Transcription checked by Lo, Yen [2022-07-19]

Please cite as “WCP354,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 28 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP354