WCP743

[1]

Broadstone, W<imborne>

Oct^r.. 12th <1905>¹

My dear Fred²

I received your long <and> interesting account of your 2nd <expedition> to Tucuche ^(unfinished) a week back, and am <glad> you succeeded, though the labour <and> time had little reward. After this experience I hope you will be <satisfied> that mountain tops are not the <place for> a collector! I grudge the loss of [MS burned] over work, the risk of serious illn<ess> such undertakings, as you are <obliged> to undergo from want of means to [MS burned] adequate assistance. Had you <spent> a fortnight at the foot of the [MS burned] slope where you saw that grand [MS burned] butterfly, you would have really [MS burned] the insect fauna of the region, [MS burned] your repeated marches with [MS burned] load give you no <information> [MS burned] you do not say where <the> [MS burned] the mountain [MS burned] [2] up, starts from, and if you know [MS burned] why you did not follow it all the [MS burned] Your ulcers are no doubt due <to> insufficient nutritious food.

[MS burned] <su>ffered in the same way, and always [MS burned] <fro>m the same cause — Pray take more [MS burned] for the "flesh-pots" — they are essential [MS burned] health.

The little plant abundant on the northern [MS burned] of Tucuche, & that grew in a garden in <Liv>erpool!, is undoubtedly a Begonia. The [MS burned]de family is characterised by the unsymmetrical [sic] leaves —sometimes largely <so>metimes slightly ^so. It must have been [MS burned] a pot & kept in the house in winter, [MS burned] ^{none are hardy} [MS burned]and you enclosed the mounted mosses [MS burned] sent, with Mr. Mitten’s³ remarks are merely to show you that they are [MS burned]g. He got better specimens he [MS burned] the little bundle you sent [MS burned] you will find [3] hepaticae growing in the leaves of <many> [MS burned] ^{(and intermingled with mosses)} which will also be of interesting. By [MS burned] a little whenever you find them and merely [MS burned] them up in a bit of paper or putting th[MS burned] in an old envelope you will be able to [MS burned] good many without much trouble. ^{(There are usually plenty of mosses growing among the roots of} [MS burned].

I am longing to hear your first imp<ressions> & successes in Santa Catalina. You will [MS burned] there a chance, I hope, to get all the [MS burned] worth collecting, and also as there [MS burned] campos with far off to test them for [MS burned] But of course at first the new road [MS burned] the place. I only hope it will at least [MS burned] equal ^to any similar place on the Sadong R<iver> in Borneo! I hope there will be so<me> Indians and children about who [MS burned] do some collecting for you, especial<ly> such things as land shells, [MS burned] beetles, and humming-birds [MS burned] the blow-pipe, or blunt [MS burned] patience I [MS burned] [4] [MS burned] if yet.

<What> a character Mrs. Paradas was! I am [MS burned] you will not want ^have to stay there long. <I> have just bought a copy of Reclus’ Universal Geography [MS burned] large volumes.⁴ He was out in Columbia & Venezuela <him>self and ascended "Santa Marta". He says there are the marvellous tropical forests with their [MS burned] of lianas and parasites, intermingled in greater <abund>ance than in the Orinoco delta, around the <Bay> of Maracaibo, and at the foot of the Sierra <Merida>"

<Th>e South East and Southwest shores of Maracaibo [MS burned] numerous streams from two branches of <the> Andes, and I think, after a year at Sta. Catalina [MS burned]ould probably find no more promising ground [MS burned] that district, which I believe is well peopled [MS burned] there are sure to be Americans & English [MS burned] I never heard of any collector going [MS burned] it seems much more promising than the [MS burned] <San>ta Martha which has been worked & [MS burned] <re>sult of access & also arid on the S. side [MS burned] opportunity to get information [MS burned] I should not wonder but it [MS burned] island"!

[MS incomplete]