WCP741

[1]¹

Broadstone,

Wimborne

August 16^th. 1905

My dear Fred²

A week ago I had yours of July 27th. with account of your sad disappointment about the floods at Barrancas,³ also Janson’s⁴ accounts &c. as to the first of course Capt[ain]. B<oynton>⁵ is quite right and it is lucky you have advice from one who knows. At Palembang⁶ in Sumatra I was in just such a country and had to go about 50 miles to get to dry forest. I hope you have found a good place in Trinidad to pass the time. A month will soon go by.

Now as to Janson: I strongly advise you to have no more discussion with him, but to make the best of it. It is pre-eminently a case of "the less said the sooner mended". And if you put yourself in his position for a while, you will see that he may have also some cause for discontent. It seems that your year’s collections, though fairly large, have brought in so little that his whole commission is only £[MS damaged]. Now if you think of the trouble <involved> [MS damaged] all the boxes you have sent [MS damaged]. [2] and find room for, among the hundreds of boxes of perhaps a dozen other collections, the sorting out and displaying for dryers, keeping accounts of each item, the correspondence, getting the money &c &c. extending over nine months, it is evident that the £4 cannot pay him, & he may well be hurt that you who send him such poor collections — from a business point of view, — should want statements of account different from what he ever gives to others. I am afraid it was my fault in the first instance, as our Agent (Bates’)⁷ was a very different man and our collections were very different in value. Remember too, he knows nothing of you, and it is quite possible he has had experience which makes him cautious in giving information. Anyhow, nothing is to <be gained> [MS damaged] by further discussion, but [MS damaged] <irritation> — better to grin [3] and bear it. When you get to a good country with more species and more rarities, you will both get better results, and your relations will become smoother. You must consider as Poulton⁸ said that this first year you have been getting valuable experience. All your careful labelling of every butterfly &c. does not unfortunately add a penny to their value to one purchaser in a hundred. All are from Trinidad, & that is ample. When you are on the continent it will be different, and locality will be of more importance. I am glad he thinks well of Maranhan[?]⁹ Pernambuco¹⁰ &c.

I cut out from the "Daily News"¹¹ last week the enclosed about a grand "Rubber" & "Forest" concession in the Upper Orinoco,¹² the very country you want to get to, but which I almost [MS damaged] may not get to as I [MS damaged] [4]¹³ of communication would be too great. Still you may meet with some of the people connected with it, and if it really is worked properly and they have regular steamers the whole way, it may possibly do in a few years.

N[ota]. B[ene]. I presume the "End[?]-Boxes" he charges you 7/6¹⁴ for are two or three empty boxes to display your insects in for sale. He must have such and I do not think the charge is at all unreasonable. It will probably not recur in future accounts.

I am now rather overwhelmed with first and second proofs coming in on top of one another so cannot write more now.

With best wishes | Yours very sincerely | Alfred R. Wallace [signature]

[MS damaged] boxes will no doubt either [MS damaged] or charged to you, & they will [MS damaged] large collections!