Alfred Russel Wallace 



To Mr. H. N. Ridley 



Parhstone, Dorset. October 3, 1898. 



My dear Mr. Ridley, — . . . We are much interested now 

 about De Rougemont, and I dare say you have seen his story 

 in the Wide World Magazine, while in the Daily Chronicle 

 there have been letters, interviews and discussions without 

 end. A few people, who think they know everything, treat 

 him as an impostor ; but unfortunately they themselves con- 

 tradict each other, and so far are proved to be wrong more 

 often than De Rougemont. I firmly believe that his story 

 is substantially true — making allowance for his being a 

 foreigner who learnt one system of measures, then lived 

 thirty years among savages, and afterwards had to; repro- 

 duce all his knowledge in English and Australian idioms. 

 As an intelligent writer in the Saturday Review says, put- 

 ting aside the sensational illustrations there is absolutely 

 nothing in his story but what is quite possiMe and even 

 proiaMe. He must have reached Singapore the year after 

 I returned home, and I dare say there are people there 

 who remember Jensen, the owner of the schooner Veilland, 

 with whom he sailed on his disastrous pearl-fishing expedi- 

 tion. Jensen is said now to be in British New Guinea, and 



has often spoken of his lost cargo of pearls. and , 



of the Royal Geographical Society, state that they are con- 

 vinced of the substantial truth of the main outlines of his 

 story, and after three interviews and innumerable questions 

 are satisfied of his hona fides — and so am I. — With best 

 wishes, believe me to be yours very truly, 



Alfred R. Wallace. 



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