380 SPREAD OF EVOLUTION. [l86l. 



lots of wood-cuts give some by all means of ants. The 

 public appreciate monkeys our poor cousins. What sexual 

 differences are there in monkeys ? Have you kept them 

 tame? if so, about their expression. I fear that you will 

 hardly read my vile hand-writing, but I cannot without killing 

 trouble write better. 



You shall have my candid opinion on your MS., but 

 remember it is hard to judge from. MS., one reads slowly, and 

 heavy parts seem much heavier. A first-rate judge thought 

 my Journal very poor ; now that it is in print, I happen to 

 know, he likes it. I am sure you will understand why I am 

 so egotistical. 



I was a little disappointed in Wallace's book * .on the 

 Amazon ; hardly facts enough. On other hand, in Gosse's 

 book f there is not reasoning enough to my taste. Heaven 

 knows whether you will care to read all this scribbling. . . . 



I am glad you had a pleasant day with Hooker,^ he is an 

 admirably good man in every sense. 



[The following extract from a letter to Mr. Bates on the 

 same subject is interesting as giving an idea of the plan 

 followed by my father in writing his ' Naturalist's Voyage : ' 



" As an old hackneyed author, let me give you a bit of 

 advice, viz. to strike out every word which is not quite 

 necessary to the current subject, and which could not interest 

 a stranger. I constantly asked myself, Would a stranger 

 care for this ? and struck out or left in accordingly. I think 

 too much pains cannot be taken in making the style trans- 

 parently clear and throwing eloquence to the dogs." 



Mr. Bates's book, ' The Naturalist on the Amazons/ was 

 published in 1863, but the following letter may be given here 

 rather than in its due chronological position : ] 



* 'Travels on the Amazon and (Dec. 1861), my father wrote : "I 



Rio Negro,' 1853. am very glad to hear that you like 



f Probably the ' Naturalist's So- Bates. I have seldom in my life 



journ in Jamaica,' 1851. been more struck with a man's 



J In a letter to Sir J. D. Hooker power of mind." 



