121 
I remember reading a letter in one of the journals from a 
photographer in India, in which he said that the plates could 
not be kept moist more than a few seconds after leaving the 
bath, and that to prevent the surface of the film from drying 
so rapidly he was obliged to fasten a pad of wet blotting-paper 
inside the shutter of the dark slide. How he contrived to 
draw out the shutter I cannot understand. My own opinion 
is, that a photographer who can take good negatives in this 
country will succeed equally well, if not better, in India, or 
other hot climates. 
A few days before leaving Calcutta, at the beginning of 
last April, I gave a friend some lessons in the art of coating 
and developing a plate. In July I received prints from his 
negatives superior to the ordinary productions of amateurs in 
this country of two year’s practice. 
The Exhibition of the Bengal Photographic Society closed 
just after my arrival in Calcutta. I could only pay one short 
visit ; but my impression was that the number of good pictures 
was larger than in the annual Exhibition of the London 
Photographic Society. Probably this improvement in the 
art is owing to the general use of bromo-iodised collodion, and 
the greater purity of the nitrate of silver and other chemicals. 
About four years since I spent the winter in Algeria and 
Egypt, taking photographs both with the wet and dry process. 
Neither country is very warm at that time of year; but the 
excessive dryness of Egypt gave me some little insight into 
what was wanted in the photographic line when I started for 
Singapore inSeptember, 1863. I had previously asked advice 
from photographers who had worked in India, mentioning 
the little difficulty I experienced in Egypt. They shook 
their heads, evidently pitying my ignorance. “ Only wait,” , 
said one, “ till you find your nitrate bath as black as ink 
some fine morning !” I humbly ventured to hope that such 
a sad fate was not in store for my bath. Another positively 
declared that no man except Ottewill could make a camera 
warranted not to warp or crack. I was also advised to make 
