Early Letters 



for '' backsheesh '' (mouey), the mosques with their elegant 

 minarets, and then the Pasha's new palace, the interior of 

 which is most gorgeous. 



We have seen lots of Turkish soldiers walking in com- 

 fortable irregularity; and, after feeling ourselves to be 

 dreadful guys for two hours, returned to the hotel whence 

 we were to start for the canal boats. You may think this 

 account is exaggerated, but it is not ; the pertinacity, vigour 

 and screams of the Alexandrian donkey -drivers no descrip- 

 tion can do justice to. . . . — Yours sincerely, 



Alfred R. Wallace. 



To His Mother 



Singapore. April 30, 1854. 



My dear Mother, — We arrived here safe on the 20th of 

 this month, having had very fine weather all the voyage. 

 On shore I was obliged to go to a hotel, which was very 

 expensive, so I tried to get out into the country as soon 

 as I could, which, however, I did not manage in less than 

 a week, when I at last got permission to stay with a French 

 Roman Catholic missionary who lives about eight miles out 

 of the town and close to the jungle. The greater part of 

 the inhabitants of Singapore are Chinese, many of whom 

 are very rich, and all the villages about are almost entirely 

 of Chinese, who cultivate pepper and gambir. Some of the 

 English merchants here have splendid country houses. I 

 dined with one to whom I brought an introduction. His 

 house was most elegant, and full of magnificent Chinese and 

 Japanese furniture. We are now at the Mission of Bukit 

 Tima. The missionary speaks English, Malay and Chinese, 

 as well as French, and is a very pleasant man. He has 

 built a very pretty church here, and has about 300 Chinese 

 converts. Having only been here four days, I cannot tell 



47 



