As a methodical natural history collector--which is "the
best sport in the world" according to Darwin--he has never been
surpassed; and few naturalists, if any, have ever brought together
more enormous collections than he. The mere statement, taken from
his "Malay Archipelago," of the number of his captures in the
Archipelago in six years of actual collecting, exceeding 125,000
specimens--a number greater than the entire contents of many large
museums--still causes amazement. The value of a collection,
however, depends on the full and accurate information attached to
each specimen, and from this point of view only a few collections,
including Darwin's and Bates's, have possessed the great
scientific value of his.
Wallace's Eastern explorations included nearly all the large and
the majority of the smaller islands of the Archipelago. Many of
them he was the first naturalist to visit, or to reside on. Ceram,
Batjian, Buru, Lombok, Timor, Aru, Ke and New Guinea had never
been previously scientifically investigated. When in 1858 "the
first and greatest of the naturalists," as Dr. Wollaston styles
Wallace, visited New Guinea, it was "the first time that any
European had ventured to reside alone and practically unprotected
on the mainland of this country," which, dangerous as it is now in
the same regions, was infinitely more so then.
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