7034 Natural-History Collectors. 



beyond Bakambong, near the first mountainous district I shall find 

 in Cambodia. I propose our travelling on elephants 100 or 150 miles ; 

 and in the month of January I expect to bring my collection to Bankok, 

 returning by the north-east ; until then you will probably hear nothing 

 more of me, and I shall be deprived of the pleasure of hearing from 

 Europe. Be patient then, and be assured that I shall not mind what 

 privation or trouble I undergo, so that I discover what is rare or 

 new. 



After having received the collection I now send you, it having been 

 made in .a mountainous district, you will be able to judge what the 

 country is really worth. Be so kind then as to give me your advice 

 as to which will be the best locality for next year. My intention at 

 present is to go as far as Chieng Mai, near the frontiers of China and 

 the Birman empire, quite at the north of the kingdom of Siam ; you 

 will then see whether the north-east or the north-west is the best. 

 The mountains on the northern extremity, and almost dividing Cochin 

 China from Siam, undoubtedly must be good, and should offer the 

 productions of both countries ; travelling in that direction would not 

 be excessively dear, or would you rather advise me to go as far as the 

 Kalmouks or the Tickhohos or Tickdohos before returning south. 

 The rainy season has now commenced, after five months of dry weather 

 such as has not been seen for thirty years ; it brings with it insects, 

 but plenty of mosquitoes and leeches as well. It will be many years 

 before I regain all the blood which those tormenting suckers have 

 drawn from me. What I most fear is to be obliged to remain several 

 months without being able to do much, as the rain begins to fall in 

 torrents, and keeps me in doors four or five days together. Again I 

 have to combat with the ants and cancrelats, spiders and other des- 

 tructive insects, which the rain obliges to seek for refuge in houses, 

 and which from time to time, notwithstanding the greatest precautions, 

 destroy part of my collections. I find that ashes put round the feet 

 of the table prevent the former from reaching them quite as well as, 

 and even better than, wood oil, which dries very quickly, or water, 

 which evaporates very soon. I have no other or better remedy against 

 the latter than to rub every evening the exterior and edges of my boxes 

 with wood oil, mixed with the oil of the cocoa to make it more liquid 

 and sticky ; I also dissolve a little naphtaline and camphor, the smell 

 of which keeps off all winged insects ; but fish oil, of which I have 

 none at present, is incomparably better than all. The damp is also 

 another terrible enemy, against which fire is the only remedy, so that 

 1 am obliged almost every rainy day to place my boxes in a warm 



