WCP686

[1]¹

Caracas

Dilton Hill

Surbiton

12 Jan[uary] [19]04

A. R. Wallace Esq[uire]

Dear Sir,

I have your letter of Jan [paper torn] & am sorry to learn that your friend has been unable to get some sort of appointment. [paper torn] will find it most difficult to make a living purely at colle[cting] [paper torn] even if he collects everything. [paper torn] least that is how it struck [paper torn] & two ^professional Canadians whom I met at Bartica 40 miles into the Esseq [paper torn] & with whom I collected for days [paper torn] told me the same & later — after [paper torn] month — had to give it up. I [paper torn] this as a friendly warning as [paper torn] the fauna is most inter[esting]. [paper torn] [2] is by no means usually abundant from the reports of Para — there [paper torn] ^a very different state of affairs there [paper torn] at least was. On the slopes of the Andes also the quantity is [usu]ally different, even in Trinidad our [paper torn] collect more specimens, common[?] [paper torn] well known [word illeg.] though most [paper torn] the [word illeg.].

Very little collecting has ever been done on the Bernice[?] but what has [paper torn] done is not very encouraging. And unless we got a long way up, the forest [paper torn] not be virgin growth as planters have been on the banks for a long time. And one other drawback is the odgures[?] prodigious number of a large [paper torn] mosquito. I spent 3 days in [paper torn] Amsterdam & can say that the [paper torn] of the "Bernice[?] nipper" are not [paper torn].

[paper torn] radius of 20 miles around George [paper torn] is practically no good [3] collecting as it is all cultivated. I should think that a hut or disus[ed] house could be got low down [paper torn] the Demerara River. Somewhere about the 3rd island ancient [paper torn] begins & I have heard that there [are] more butterflies in the creeks of the Demerara Riv[er] than any [paper torn] else in the colony. All my [inform]ation was second-hand & not [paper torn] from an entomologist & I cannot vouch for it. I can say however I [paper torn] impressed with the look of the [paper torn] in the Demerara but I only colle[paper torn] ^{in the Dem[erara].} for a day or two at Wisman & [paper torn] up & it rained the whole time. Camoeini creek or Waratilla creek should be easily available. The [paper torn] hills near the latter should [paper torn] interesting.

I have heard that [paper torn] at the mouth of the Esse[paper torn] [4] [paper torn] give evidence to the information.

Curatorship of the Museum is [paper torn] cant just now & I hardly know [paper torn] to put you on to unless Mr. paper torn] at Lyndhurst Main Street [c]ould tell you. M^r.. Anderson is [paper torn] ^civil engineer & has been over a [paper torn]at deal of country. There are so few people who have ever even seen [paper torn] bush that it is surprisingly difficult [paper torn] information.

Guiana is fearfully over taxed but [paper torn] think there would be any trouble about [paper torn] out. One can rent forest-land at [paper torn] 5 or 10 cents an acre per annum, so [paper torn]ever your friend was 10 cents would [paper torn] stop him from pitching his camp. [paper torn] from the Colonial Secretary would be [paper torn] splendid thing & doubtless save much [paper torn].

[paper torn] M^r.. Birch cares to come & [paper torn] me I could tell him more [paper torn] half an hour than by 20 letters [paper torn] search maps too when I [paper torn] collecting could be done [paper torn]

Yours sincerely, | W. Kaye [signature]