WCP3571

[1]

21 Eccleston Square

S.W.

23 Nov 1908

My dear Mr Keltie¹

There are some short botanical notes in Spruce's² book,³ but I think the substance has been in Hooker's Journal.⁴

The small vol contains a very full vocabulary of the Tupi or Lingoa Garal collected between 1851 and 1854 with notes on the sounds of the Tupi language, some useful [2] dialogues and phrases, and notes for a grammar.

This has, I believe, been since more elaborately done by the Brazilians. Still all that Spruce ever did was so careful and accurate that it would be a pity not to utilize it for the use of the rapidly increasing number of English speaking people on the Amazons.

Our first separate publication was Howse's grammar of the Cree language, and I gave a grammar and vocabularies [3] of the Eskimo in the Arctic Manual.

There is a dockyard at Iquitos I think also at Monaco, and Steam Navigation too. They might contribute.

But it would be necessary to have an English-Tupi, as well as a Tupi-English vocabulary. There would be about 72 printed pages, including the English-Tupi, vocabularies being in double columns.

I have just heard that the University will, for the next five years, give £600 [4] a year to the Oxford School of geography. Good news! besides showing the increased appreciation of the importance of geography[.]

yours sincerely | Clements R Markham⁵ [signature]

We must first see what Dr Wallace has embodied in his book.