The unity of the Catholics is their
strength, and an unmarried clergy can do as missionaries what married
men never can undertake."
As a sidelight on these contradictory estimates of the same work, it
should be borne in mind that Darwin had but recently given up the idea
of becoming a clergyman, and doubtless retained some of the instinctive
regard for sincere Christian Protestantism (whether represented by the
Church of England or by Nonconformists), while Wallace had long since
relinquished all doctrinal ideas on religion and all belief in the
beneficial effect produced by forms of worship on the individual.
Among the regions Wallace visited was Sarawak. Of one of his sojourns
here some interesting reminiscences have been sent to me by Mr. L.V.
Helmes. He says:
It was in 1854 that Wallace came to Sarawak. I was there then,
sent by a private firm, which later became the Borneo Company, to
open up, by mining, manufacture and trade, the resources of the
country, and amongst these enterprises was coal-mining on the
west. Wallace came in search of new specimens of animal and
especially insect life.
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