Collecting insects in Malacca and Mount Ophir
Full transcription
Sept[embe]r. 30th. 1854.
Singapore.
My dear Mother
I last wrote to you from Malacca in July. I have now just returned to Singapore after two months hard work.
At Malacca I had a pretty strong touch off ever with the old Rio Negro symptoms, but the Government doctor made me take a great quantity of quinine every day for a week together & so killed it, & in less than a fortnight I was quite well & off to the jungle again. I see now how to treat the fever, & shall commence at once when the symptoms again appear. I never took half enough quinine in America to cure me.
[written vertically at the left hand side of the page]
Please put a stamp on the enclosed letter and post it
Malacca is a pretty place & I worked very hard. Insects are not very abundant there, still by perseverance I got a good number & many rare ones. Of birds too I made a good collection. I went to the celebrated Mount Ophir and ascended to the top. The walk was terrible 30miles through jungle, a succession of mud holes. My boots did good service. We lived there a week at the foot of the mountain in a little hut built by our men, & I got some fine new butterflies there and hundreds of other new & rare insects. We had only rice & a little fish & tea but came home quite well. The height of the mountain is about 4000 feet -Near the top are beautiful ferns & several kinds of fir tree of which I made a small collection. Elephants & Rhinoceroses as well as Tigers are abundant there but we had our usual bad luck in not seeing any of them.
On returning to Malacca I found the accumulations of two or three posts a dozen letters & fifty newspapers - my watch & pins &c from Mr Stevens. I had letters from Algernon & my Uncle. The latter wants me to visit Adelaide, the former wants to visit me but is afraid he cannot manage it. Your letters contained much news. Mr Sims came to London is a miracle. You do not say whether any of you have been to the Crystal Palace yet. Even G.[eorge] S.[ilk] who admires nothing says it is indescribable.
I am glad to be safe in Singapore with my collections as from here they can be insured. I have now a fortnights work to arrange, examine, & pack them & then in four months hence there will be some work for Mr Stevens.
Sir James Brooke is here. I have called him. He received me most cordially, & offered me every assistance at Sarawak. I shall go there next, as the Missionary does not go to Cambodia for some months. Besides I shall have some pleasant society at Sarawak, & shall get on in Malay which is very easy, but I have had no practice - though still I can ask for most common things. My books & instruments arrived in beautiful condition. They looked as if they had been packed up but a day. Not so the unfortunate eatables. We were all very stupid to pack them up in a basket at all. Nothing but tin cases will preserve such things. The pudding and twelfth cake were masses of mould & insects, quite useless. The covers of the jams were all eaten through by ants and small insects. The currant jam was mostly spoilt, sour - The gooseberry remained very good. Anything of the sort put into tin cases & soldered up, which would not cost more than 6d - 10would no doubt arrive perfectly good. I shall probably have a box sent in a few months then you can try the experiment. I am sorry you did not send my glazed shoes in Mr Steven's parcel - The shirts do not send on any account, I have too many here at present. The butterfly I sent in a letter I knew was not rare. I merely sent it as a specimen of a kind which there is nothing resembling in America.
With Love to all I remain
Your affectionate Son
[signed] Alfred R Wallace
[to] Mrs. Wallace.
[written vertically at the left hand side of the page]
If it were not for the expense I would send Charles home; I think I could not have chanced upon a more utterly or careless boy. After 5 months I have still to tell him to put things away after he has been using them as the first week. He is very strong & able to do any thing, but can be trusted to do nothing out of my sight.
Singapore.
My dear Mother
I last wrote to you from Malacca in July. I have now just returned to Singapore after two months hard work.
At Malacca I had a pretty strong touch off ever with the old Rio Negro symptoms, but the Government doctor made me take a great quantity of quinine every day for a week together & so killed it, & in less than a fortnight I was quite well & off to the jungle again. I see now how to treat the fever, & shall commence at once when the symptoms again appear. I never took half enough quinine in America to cure me.
[written vertically at the left hand side of the page]
Please put a stamp on the enclosed letter and post it
Malacca is a pretty place & I worked very hard. Insects are not very abundant there, still by perseverance I got a good number & many rare ones. Of birds too I made a good collection. I went to the celebrated Mount Ophir and ascended to the top. The walk was terrible 30miles through jungle, a succession of mud holes. My boots did good service. We lived there a week at the foot of the mountain in a little hut built by our men, & I got some fine new butterflies there and hundreds of other new & rare insects. We had only rice & a little fish & tea but came home quite well. The height of the mountain is about 4000 feet -Near the top are beautiful ferns & several kinds of fir tree of which I made a small collection. Elephants & Rhinoceroses as well as Tigers are abundant there but we had our usual bad luck in not seeing any of them.
On returning to Malacca I found the accumulations of two or three posts a dozen letters & fifty newspapers - my watch & pins &c from Mr Stevens. I had letters from Algernon & my Uncle. The latter wants me to visit Adelaide, the former wants to visit me but is afraid he cannot manage it. Your letters contained much news. Mr Sims came to London is a miracle. You do not say whether any of you have been to the Crystal Palace yet. Even G.[eorge] S.[ilk] who admires nothing says it is indescribable.
I am glad to be safe in Singapore with my collections as from here they can be insured. I have now a fortnights work to arrange, examine, & pack them & then in four months hence there will be some work for Mr Stevens.
Sir James Brooke is here. I have called him. He received me most cordially, & offered me every assistance at Sarawak. I shall go there next, as the Missionary does not go to Cambodia for some months. Besides I shall have some pleasant society at Sarawak, & shall get on in Malay which is very easy, but I have had no practice - though still I can ask for most common things. My books & instruments arrived in beautiful condition. They looked as if they had been packed up but a day. Not so the unfortunate eatables. We were all very stupid to pack them up in a basket at all. Nothing but tin cases will preserve such things. The pudding and twelfth cake were masses of mould & insects, quite useless. The covers of the jams were all eaten through by ants and small insects. The currant jam was mostly spoilt, sour - The gooseberry remained very good. Anything of the sort put into tin cases & soldered up, which would not cost more than 6d - 10would no doubt arrive perfectly good. I shall probably have a box sent in a few months then you can try the experiment. I am sorry you did not send my glazed shoes in Mr Steven's parcel - The shirts do not send on any account, I have too many here at present. The butterfly I sent in a letter I knew was not rare. I merely sent it as a specimen of a kind which there is nothing resembling in America.
With Love to all I remain
Your affectionate Son
[signed] Alfred R Wallace
[to] Mrs. Wallace.
[written vertically at the left hand side of the page]
If it were not for the expense I would send Charles home; I think I could not have chanced upon a more utterly or careless boy. After 5 months I have still to tell him to put things away after he has been using them as the first week. He is very strong & able to do any thing, but can be trusted to do nothing out of my sight.
Toolbox
Contact us
For enquiries about the Wallace Collection please email the library
Search this collection
Wallace Letters Online
View high resolution scans and transcripts of Alfred Russel Wallace's correspondence, including all surviving letters between him and Charles Darwin.