CHAPTER XL 



A CHAPTER ON MONEY MATTERS — EARNINGS AND LOSSES — 



SPECULATIONS AND LAW-SUITS 



Up to the age of twenty-one I do not think I ever had a 

 sovereign of my own. I then received a small sum, perhaps 

 about £50, the remnant of a legacy from my grandfather, 

 John Greenell. This enabled me to get a fair outfit of clothes, 

 and to keep myself till I got the appointment at the Leicester 

 school. While living at Neath as a surveyor I did little more 

 than earn my living, except during the six months of the 

 railway mania, when I was able to save about £100. This 

 enabled me to go to Para with Bates, and during the four 

 years on the Amazon my collections just paid all expenses, 

 but those I was bringing home with me would probably have 

 sold for £200. My agent, Mr. Stevens, had fortunately 

 insured them for £150, which enabled me to live a year in 

 London, and get a good outfit and a sufficient cash balance for 

 my Malayan journey. 



My eight years in the Malay Archipelago were successful, 

 financially, beyond my expectations. Celebes, the Moluccas, 

 the Aru Islands, and New Guinea were, for English museums 

 and private collections, an almost unknown territory. A 

 large proportion of my insects and birds were either wholly 

 new or of extreme rarity in England ; and as many of them 

 were of large size and W great beauty, they brought very 

 high prices. My agent had invested the proceeds from time 

 to time in Indian guaranteed railway stock, and a year after 

 my return I found myself in possession of about £300 a year. 

 Besides this, I still possessed the whole series of private 

 collections, including large numbers of new or very rare 



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