I have
collected upwards of 25,000 insects, besides birds, shells, quadrupeds,
and plants. The day I arrived here a vessel sailed for Macassar, and I
fear I shall not have another chance for two months unless I go a
roundabout way, and perhaps not then, so I have hardly made up my mind
what to do,--Your affectionate brother,
ALFRED R. WALLACE.
* * * * *
TO HIS BROTHER-IN-LAW, THOMAS SIMS
_Singapore. [Probably about March, 1856.]_
Dear Thomas,-- ... You and Fanny talk of my coming back for a trifling
sore as if I was within an omnibus ride of Conduit St. I am now
perfectly well, and only waiting to go eastward. The far east is to me
what the far west is to the Americans. They both meet in California,
where I hope to arrive some day. I quite enjoy being a few days at
Singapore now. The scene is at once so familiar and strange. The
half-naked Chinese coolies, the neat shopkeepers, the clean, fat, old,
long-tailed merchants, all as busy and full of business as any
Londoners. Then the handsome Klings, who always ask double what they
take, and with whom it is most amusing to bargain.
Pages:
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106