XX] LONDON : VOYAGE TO SINGAPORE 321 



After discussing the matter with some of my friends, I 

 determined to publish, at my own expense, a small, popular 

 volume on the " Palms of the Amazon and Rio Negro," with 

 an account of their uses and distribution, and figures of all 

 the species from my sketches and specimens of fruits. I 

 arranged with Mr. Walter Fitch of Kew, the first botanical 

 artist of the day, to draw them on stone, adding a few 

 artistic touches to give them life and variety, and in a few 

 cases some botanical details from species living in the 

 gardens. In one of the drawings a large native house on 

 the Uaupes is introduced, with some figures which, I am 

 sorry to say, are as unlike the natives as are the inhabitants of 

 a London slum. I arranged with Mr. Van Voorst to publish 

 this small volume, and it was not thought advisable to print 

 more than 250 copies, the sale of which just covered all 

 expenses. 



At the same time I was preparing my "Travels on the 

 Amazon and Rio Negro" from the scanty materials I had 

 saved, supplemented by the letters I had written home. I 

 arranged with Mr. Lovel Reeve for its publication on an 

 agreement for "half profits." Only 750 copies were printed, 

 and when I returned home from the East in 1862, about 

 250 copies were still unsold, and there were consequently 

 no profits to divide. We agreed, however, to share the 

 remaining copies, and my portion was disposed of by my new 

 publisher, Messrs. Macmillan & Co., and brought me in a few 

 pounds. 



I had brought with me vocabularies of about a hundred 

 common words in ten different Indian languages, and as the 

 greatest philologist at that time was the late Dr. R. G. 

 Latham, I obtained an introduction to him, and he kindly 

 offered to write some " Remarks " upon the vocabularies, and 

 these are published in the first edition of my " Travels." 



Dr. Latham was at this time engaged in fitting up groups 

 of figures to illustrate the family life and habits of the various 

 races of mankind at the new Crystal Palace at Sydenham, 

 then just completed, and he asked me to meet him there and 



vol. 1. Y 



