WCP365

Macassar [Makassar]¹

Dec^r. 10th. 1856

My dear Fanny²

I have received yours of Sept^r. & my Mothers³ of October, and as I am now going out of reach of letters for six months I must send you a few lines to let you know that I am well & in good spirits though rather disappointed with the celebrated Makassar. My Mothers letter has informed me that we are all now Uncles and Aunts,⁴ and I hope you enjoy the title. I hear your country residence is fixed on, & I hope it may lead to the reestablishment of your health. I am sorry however you have to pay so high a rent, because when you leave it, (& you cannot have any certainty of staying more than a year) my mother will have to move again, as even the half rent is too much for her in proportion to her income, & expenses of moving coming into every year must be a great bother to her.

I believe my last letter to her & this will go together as the steamer is delayed & is [2] probably broken down this month, & I have told her all about where I am going so need not repeat it here. I have also written some details to Mr Stevens⁵ & G[eorge]. Silk⁶ from either of whom you can no doubt get their letters. The day after tomorrow I go on board the prow [prahu, Malay: boat]. We shall probably have 20 days passage not very comfortable ones for me, but the prospect of the wonders & rarities to be obtained at its termination will keep up my spirits. For the last fortnight ^{since I came in from the country} I have been living here rather luxuriously, getting good rich cow's milk to my tea & coffee, very good bread & excellent dutch [sic] butter (3^s a lb.) The bread here is raised with toddy⁷ just as it is fermenting, & it imparts a peculiar sweet taste to the bread which is very nice. At last too there is some fruit here. The mangoes have just come in & they are certainly magnificent. The flavour of is something between a peach & a melon with the slightest possible flavour of turpentine, & very juicy. They say they are unwholesome & it is a good thing for me I am going away now. When I come back there will be not one to be had. [3] As I really know not what to write about to fill up this sheet, partly through having many preparations &c still to make & other letters to write, I will give you a list of my stores for my six months residence at Arru [Aru]⁸, so that you may see I am now taking pretty good care of myself.

Rice all goes from here but the owner of the prow [prahu, Malay: boat] will supply me there. Fowls are scarce but we shall eat Birds of Paradise. Fish [4] are abundant, and there is a small kangaroo about as big as a hare which they say is very plentiful & excellent eating, so I expect we shall get on first rate in the culinary department. I also take with me a bamboo ^wicker chair & a small folding table, as I find sitting on the ground for months together dreadfully fatiguing & irksome for my long legs. I can neither write nor work with pleasure unless I have a chair & table. I ought also to mention among my luxuries here, excellent potatoes grown on the Boutyne [Buton or Butung?] mountain⁹ & quite as good as you get in England. The sweet potatoes here however are so good that I like them as well or better & so take them by turns. Do not neglect to write by the May mail, as that will reach here just as I expect to return from Arru [Aru], & give me all the latest news. Kind regards to Thomas,¹⁰ Edw[ar]^d.,¹¹ Mr¹² & Mrs Sims¹³ & all friends. Has Eliza Roberts¹⁴ got rid of her moustache yet? Tell her in private to use tweezers. A hair a day would exterminate it in a year or two without any one’s perceiving¹⁵ — You have told me of nobody married or dead for a long time.

[5]¹⁶ Is the world stationary or are you too busy to notice it.

I remain D[ea]^r Fanny | Your ever affectionate Brother | Alfred R. Wallace [signature]