WCP4673

[1]

Broadstone, Wimborne

Oct[obe]^r.. 29th. 1907

Dear D^r. Jordan¹

I have just had a long letter from F. Birch², who is now settled in a house on the borders of a patch of forest, & a small stream, about 5 1/2 miles N.E. of Theophilo-Ottoni, Minas-Gerais³. This seems to be near the ____ of the Mucury River, and is, I think, in an almost unknown part of the Province, even geographically, and must contain many fine things in all orders of Zoology. Though he had been there 2 months when he wrote he had not had one day's collecting, having the house to repair, & fit up, a garden to clear & plant fences to make & ^{forests and a milch-}goat ^{to buy & look after} in order to be able to live [2] & produce their own food as much as possible— and I think he looks forward to living there several years so as thoroughly to work the district. He describes the forests he went through on the Railway near the Minas frontier, as being grand beyond anything he had yet seen,— and all other travellers whose accounts I have read say the same of these coast forests; and if there is, as I suppose probable, a rather severe dry season where he is, he will ^be able then to go down to the frontier & work those forests wh[ich]. I feel sure must be fare richer in Butterflies than the higher lands. [3] His address is—"Casa de Correio" Theophilo Ottoni, Minas Gerais Brazil.

I received today also the first 2 numbers of Vol. II. of D^r. A. Seitz' "Macrolepidoptera of the World"⁴— and was interested to find that you are doing the Papilios. I got the work partly (or chiefly) to help me in following Birch's collecting in Brazil, in which I am so much interested; and it has occurred to me that, possibly, you may have a duplicate copy to spare; and that if so no one would, I am sure, more appreciate it than F. Birch. ^{I know he has} no ^{book on Trop[ical]. butterflies.} As he is now settled in a home, and has German settlers for his nearest neighbors (5 1/2 miles off) [4] which makes it pleasant for his wife, as her mother was a German and she speaks the language fluently, he can enjoy ^{and take care of} any books that that may be sent him.

It takes a month for letters to reach here from him. They have to go (or do go) about 300 miles over Cand via Diamantina— and then to the nearest Railroad to Rio. I do not suppose you will have his first collections for 6 months, but when it does come I expect it will contain a good proportion of rarities & novelties.

No doubt you heard from F. Birch of the domestic troubles which delayed so long his journey to Brazil.

Yours very truly | Alfred R. Wallace [signature]