The clearing of ancient forests at these
mines offered a naturalist great opportunities, and I gave Wallace
an introduction to our engineer in charge there. His collections
of beetles and butterflies there were phenomenal; but the district
was also the special home of the great ape, the orang-utan, or
meias, as the natives called them, of which he obtained so many
valuable specimens. Many notes must at that time have passed
between us, for I took much interest in his work. We had put up a
temporary hut for him at the mines, and on my occasional visits
there I saw him and his young assistant, Charles Allen, at work,
admired his beautiful collections, and gave my help in forwarding
them.
But it was mainly in social intercourse that we met, when Wallace,
in intervals of his labours, came to Ku-ching, and was the Rajah's
guest. Then occurred those interesting discussions at social
gatherings to which he refers in a letter to me in 1909, when he
wrote: "I was pleased to receive your letter, with reminiscences
of old times.
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