WCP759

[1]

Broadstone <Wimbourne>

Sept^r [MS burned] <1906>¹

My dear Fred²

Yours of Sept. 6th. <reached> me yesterday, and I was very [MS burned] to see daylight in you affairs, [MS burned] to the very kind and liberal view [MS burned] situation taken by Mr Thayer.³ [MS burned] have certainly found in him a [MS burned] friend. It appears then now, [MS burned] the one, & vitally important thing <to> decide, is where to go after <visiting> England, and on this subject [MS burned] as you seem to wish, give you my [MS burned] views.

I am myself convinced that [MS burned] whole range of Tropical America [MS burned] could select no place less <suit> your purpose, none more [MS burned] ruin all your prospects [MS burned] yet you apparently [MS burned] a [MS burned] [2] [MS burned] to exist there, for the Tring <Mu>seum. Of course he would! And [MS burned] might possibly pay for ½ doz. or [MS burned]en a dozen species 20^s/- each, to [MS burned]t which would probably cost you [MS burned] 50! or even more, while the <re>mainder of your collection might [MS burned] be worth as many shillings!

[MS burned] the extreme poverty of the fauna of [MS burned] the W. Indian islands, is well known [MS burned] Hayti there are less than 50 species [MS burned] resident land-birds. In Lepidoptera [MS burned] is a still more marked deficiency [MS burned]st all the most characteristic S. Am. [MS burned] being ^either absent ^{or very few,} while even the [MS burned] genera and species are very [MS burned]me perhaps extinct, and others [MS burned] in certain localities you [MS burned] in years. Add [MS burned] travelling [MS burned] quite [3] certain that it would never [MS burned] one but a permanent resident [MS burned] considerable means, even to [MS burned] for them.

Belize in British Honduras, is [MS burned] a fairly good locality, and if it <can> be reached much more cheapl<y> [MS burned] any other part of the tropics it may <be> worth considering. But considering ^as Salvin⁴ & Godman⁵ for about 40 y<ears> were either personally or by <means of> paid collectors, native or English [MS burned] all the surrounding countries [MS burned] Central America, which owing to [MS burned] large American trade there, [MS burned] scores of American collectors h[MS burned] worked in ^or near it, it cannot [MS burned] much novelty — - though of [MS burned] much more than all [MS burned] [4] [MS burned] England would probably [MS burned] <m>ore than to Guiana or Para. [MS burned] ^{<dis>tance is very much greater.} [MS burned] as there is a far less amount of <unkn>own or little-known region there, [MS burned] even in Guiana, it would be, I [MS burned] pure waste of time to go there [MS burned] England.

[MS burned] come back again there to the two [MS burned] Iquitos and British Guiana; and [MS burned] the first is more expensive to reach, [MS burned] foreigners, and is perhaps [MS burned] of a risk to begin with, there <re>ains B. Guiana — and there is these [MS burned] between the Missionary stations [MS burned] coast and the Berbice river. [MS burned] London you can probably find [MS burned] the missions — perhaps even [MS burned] some one who has been [MS burned] English mission is one [MS burned] is [MS burned] [5] (5) If you decide on B.Guiana [MS burned] not be as well to write at once [MS burned] Rodwell,⁶ who I believe still lives [MS burned] Georgetown, and could probably [MS burned] information as to the place on the [MS burned] River the most likely to form a [MS burned] collecting centre, mentioning the [MS burned] conditions you require — such as a [MS burned] settlement,— roads and paths in f[MS burned] which must be near the town — [MS burned] Indian villages near ^{&c. &c}. It is <poss<ible> there may be places on the Ber<bice> river, which would be better ^still f[MS burned] collector as being much less [MS burned] On this ^river I see places marked <with> names & therefore probably [MS burned] settlements. If I hear from [MS burned] you decide for B. Guiana [MS burned] write to Mr. Kaye⁷ on [MS burned] [6] [MS burned] old settlement the 2nd growth [MS burned] the virgin forest, are often [MS burned] the old forest itself.

[MS burned]ion as to various places in the [MS burned]ny both pleasant to live at and [MS burned]d for the insect-collector.

I believe myself, that besides [MS burned]tting large numbers of fine insects of [MS burned] orders, you will by a few years <collecting> in a good locality, get a <large> number of rare and a very <con>siderable number of quite new <and> remarkable species, which, taken <together>, will sell for about ten times [MS burned] the very scanty collections from <Hayti> would bring you — to say nothing <of the> advantages of being in an old <Brit>ish Colony, and probably with as much [MS burned]t society as in most country [MS burned] in England or America.

[MS burned] ^you should find a really good [MS burned] have the opportunity [MS burned] [7] house with fruit-trees & a [MS burned] ground. But, in a good loc[MS burned] you will need almost every [MS burned] your time in collecting and [MS burned] & packing your collections, espec<ially> if you send off different sets [MS burned] your chief purchasers.

Still, I hope you will get w[MS burned] information you can as to <Iquito> [MS burned] both in America and England, as [MS burned] am pretty sure, myself, that it [MS burned] repay you very much better, [MS burned] a much larger number of the [MS burned] moths, and beetles, would be [MS burned] new species. You will [illeg.] [MS burned] seriously to consider the [MS burned] an Agent. — as without [MS burned] would lose [MS burned] [8] [MS burned] only buy ^a few ^specimens at a time, but [MS burned] a good price for special [MS burned] or varities [sic] that they can <sel>ect from a large collection. [MS burned] that you will have to decide on [MS burned] interviews with any agents [MS burned] may now be available, and must [MS burned] clear understanding as to terms, & have a signed agreement. [MS burned] course when you are in London [MS burned] can easily go to Tring, and see [MS burned] they want, and ascertain if they [MS burned] ^take a set of Lep. from Guiana at [MS burned] each, and also if they will pay [MS burned] higher price for sets from Iquitos [MS burned] the lower slopes of the Andes. [MS burned]st not take whatever collections [MS burned] you ^now have to Tring, or ^{perhaps better,} if you [MS burned] ^{now and} say you are coming to [MS burned] and will call on them. [MS burned] the N. American [MS burned] really [MS burned, incomplete]