My life : a record of events and opinions - Wallace-online.org

176 MY LIFEwork again till six : coffee. Then read or talk, or, ifinsects very numerous, work again tilleight or nine.Then to bed."Charles was a boy of sixteen whom I had broughtwith me from London as he wished to become acollector. He remained with me about a year anda half and eventually got employment on some of theplantations near Singapore.I next made an expedition to Malacca whichI describe in one of my letters as follows :— " I havenow just returned to Singapore after two months'hard work. At Malacca I had a strong touch offever, with the old Rio Negro ' ' symptoms, but theGovernment doctor made me take large doses ofquinine every day for a week, and so killed it, and inless than a fortnight I was quite well, and off to thejungle again. I never took half enough quinine inAmerica to cure me." Malacca is a pretty place. Insects are not veryabundant there, still, by perseverance, I got a goodnumber, and many rare ones. Of birds, too, I madea good collection. I went to the celebrated MountOphir, and ascended to the top, sleeping under a rock.The walk there was hard work, thirty miles throughjungle in a succession of mud-holes, and swarmingwith leeches, which crawled all over us, and suckedwhen and where they pleased. We lived a week atthe foot of the mountain, in a Httle hut built by ourmen, near a beautiful rocky stream. I got some finenew butterfliesthere, and hundreds of other new orrare insects. Huge centipedes and scorpions, somenearly a foot long, were common, but we none of usgot bitten or stung.We only had rice, and a little fishand tea, but came home quite well. The mountainis over four thousand feet high. Near the top are