Early Letters 



owing to the approaching Great Exhibition. I must of 

 course study economy, as the little money I have made will 

 not be all got in for a year or two after my return. . . . 



You must remember to write to me by the middle of 

 November mail, as that is probably the last letter I can 

 receive from you. 



I send the letter to Fanny, who will most likely call on 

 you and talk over matters. I am a little confused arriving 

 in a new place with a great deal to do and living in a noisy 

 hotel, so different to my usual solitary life, so that I cannot 

 well collect my ideas to write any more, but must remain, 

 my dear mother, your ever affectionate son, 



Alfred R. Wallace. 



To His Sister^ Mrs. Sims 

 In the Mountains of Java. October 10, 1861. 



My dear Fanny, — I have just received your second letter 

 in praise of your new house. As I have said my say about 

 it in my last, I shall now send you a few lines on other 

 subjects. 



I have been staying here a fortnight 4,000 feet above the 

 sea in a fine cool climate, but it is unfortunately dreadfully 

 wet and cloudy. I have just returned from a three days' ex- 

 cursion to one of the great Java volcanoes 10,000 feet high. 

 I slept two nights in a house 7,500 feet above the sea. It 

 was bitterly cold at night, as the hut was merely of plaited 

 bamboo, like a sieve, so that the wind came in on all sides. 

 I had flannel jackets and blankets and still was cold, and 

 my poor men, with nothing but their usual thin cotton 

 clothes, passed miserable nights lying on a mat on the 

 ground round the fire which could only warm one side at 

 a time. The highest peak is an extinct volcano with the 

 crater nearly filled up, forming merely a saucer on the 



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