WCP394

Letter (WCP394.394)

[1]

Barra de [sic] Rio Negro1

30th. August [1850]2

Dear Fanny3 and Mother4

Alfred having told you all about not receiving the letters sooner, and having started to day for his long journey up the Rio Negro, I sit down to write you a few lines on my prospects. Alfred has left me in the City of the Rio Negro with the sum of 10£, all that he could spare, and I have given him a receipt to pay him when able. I am a thousand miles from Pará,5 and my present plan is as follows; to hire a hunter immediately, and go for a couple of months into the country to make a collection of Birds and Insects which will be sufficient to pay my [2] voyage to England, and I hope I have a few pounds in my pocket besides. If I have enough when I arrive in Pará to buy a few Pipes and small articles to sell in England I will; but it is no use you sending a small sum, for that purpose, as the Brazelian [sic] money is now low. — When I arrive in England, I have my plans which I can better tell than write. I do not like the Californian Sheme[?]6 for many reasons, much obliged to you for mentioning it the same. I should like to have seen John’s7 first letter from San Francisco, I cannot draw many ideas from his second. No doubt he is sure to get on there. I wish I was a little more unpoetical; but as [3] I am what I am, I must try and do the best for myself I can. — I will not (though I could) tell you of anything wonderful belonging to this country, I will not make you smile over wit, or sentimentalize our Poetry[.]

"Trifles light as air"8 be gone!! — I have bussiness [sic] before me — and must look sharp! Visions of my youth for a while away! Let me see (for a while) but the Ambrosial shop far away upon the mountain top and set my mind upon one object. So for the present farewell! give my love and thanks to Thomas9 for his amusing letter and the same to all friends — till we meet,

I must now remain │Your affectionate Son and Brother │Herbert Edward Wallace10 [signature]

P.S. You may expect me home at [C]hristmas. —

1
"Barra do Rio Negro" (also Villa da Barra; Manáos), a former name for Manaus, capital city of Amazonas state, northwestern Brazil (The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. 2018. Manaus. Brazil. Encyclopaedia Britannica. <https://www.britannica.com/place/Manaus> [accessed 9 October 2018]).
2
Dated to 1851 from the context.
3
Sims (née Wallace), Frances ("Fanny") (1812-1893). Sister of ARW; teacher.
4
Wallace (née Greenell), Mary Ann (1792-1868). Mother of ARW.
5
"Pará", now Belém, capital of Pará state in northern Brazil (The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. 2018. Belém. Brazil. Encyclopaedia Britannica. <https://www.britannica.com/place/Belem-Brazil> [accessed 27 June 2018]).
6
In his autobiography, ARW explains that he thought that at that point, there may have been some plans for his younger brother to join their brother John, who had emigrated to California in 1849 during the gold rush (Wallace, A. R. 1905. My Life: A Record of Events and Opinions, 2 vols. London, UK: Chapman & Hall, Ltd. [p. 282]).
7
Wallace, John (1818-1895). Brother of ARW; engineer and surveyor.
8
"Trifles light as air", a quotation from Act 3, scene 3 of Shakespeare's play, Othello.
9
Sims, Thomas (1826-1910). Brother-in-law of ARW; photographer.
10
Wallace, Herbert Edward ("Edward") (1829-1851). Brother of ARW and assistant to him in Brazil.

Editorial information

Status: Edited (but not proofed) transcription [Letter (WCP394.394)]

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 [2012-03-26] Transcription checked by Catchpole, Caroline [2013-01-15] Transcription checked by Watt, Helen [2018-11-02]

Please cite as “WCP394,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 25 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP394