I see your post-mark was Dorking, so I suppose you have been staying
there. Is it not a lovely country? I hope your health is improved, and
when, quite at your leisure, you have waded through my book, I trust
you will again let me have a few lines of friendly criticism and
advice.--Yours very faithfully,
ALFRED R. WALLACE.
* * * * *
_Down, Beckenham. June 17, 1876._
My dear Wallace,--I have now finished the whole of Vol. I., with the
same interest and admiration as before; and I am convinced that my
judgment was right and that it is a memorable book, the basis of all
future work on the subject. I have nothing particular to say, but
perhaps you would like to hear my impressions on two or three points.
Nothing has struck me more than the admirable and convincing manner in
which you treat Java. To allude to a very trifling point, it is capital
about the unadorned head of the Argus pheasant.[102] How plain a thing is,
when it is once pointed out! What a wonderful case is that of Celebes! I
am glad that you have slightly modified your views with respect to
Africa,[103] and this leads me to say that I cannot swallow the so-called
continent of Lemuria, i.
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