Early Letters 



in Singapore cheaper than in London, so I need not have 

 troubled myself to take any. So far both I and Charles 

 have enjoyed excellent health. He can now shoot pretty 

 well, and is so fond of it that I can hardly get him to do 

 anything else. He will soon be very useful, if I can cure 

 him of his incorrigible carelessness. At present I cannot 

 trust him to do the smallest thing without watching that 

 he does it properly, so that I might generally as well do 

 it myself. I shall remain here probably two months, and 

 then return to Singapore to prepare for a voyage to Cam- 

 bodia or somewhere else, so do not be alarmed if you do 

 not hear from me regularly. Love to all. — Your affectionate 



so^> Alfred R. Wallace. 



To His Mother 



Singapore. September 30, 1854. 



My dear Mother, — I last wrote to you from Malacca in 

 July. I have now just returned to Singapore after two 

 months' hard work. At Malacca I had a pretty strong 

 touch of fever with the old Rio Negro symptoms, but the 

 Government doctor made me take a great quantity of 

 quinine every day for a week together and so killed it, 

 and in less than a fortnight I was quite well and off to 

 the jungle again. I see now how to treat the fever, and 

 shall commence at once when the symptoms again appear. 

 I never took half enough quinine in America to cure me. 

 Malacca is a pretty place, and I worked very hard. Insects 

 are not very abundant there, still by perseverance I got a 

 good number and many rare ones. Of birds, too, I made 

 a good collection. I went to the celebrated Mount Ophir 

 and ascended to the top. The walk was terrible — thirty 

 miles through jungle, a succession of mud holes. My boots 

 did good service. We lived there a week at the foot of the 



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