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

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

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12.07.2015 Views

—196 MY LIFEcontinued perseverance I obtained rather more speciesof both butterflies and beetles than at New Guinea,though fewer, I think, of the more showy kinds.The voyage from Waigiou back to Tern ate wasagain most tedious and unfortunate, occupying thirtyeightdays, whereas with reasonably favourable weatherit should not have required more than ten or twelve.Taking my whole voyage in this canoe from Goramto Waigiou and Ternate, I thus summarize my accountof it in my " Malay Archipelago " ": My first crew ranaway in a body ;two men were lost on a desert island,and only recovered a month later after twice sendingin search of them ;we were ten times run aground oncoral reefs ; we lost four anchors ; our sails weredevoured by rats ;our small boat was lost astern ;we were thirty-eight days on a voyage which shouldnot have taken twelve ; we were many times short offood and water ; we had no compass-lamp owing tothere being not a drop of oil in Waigiou when weleft ; and, to crown all, during our whole voyage fromGoram by Ceram to Waigiou, and from Waigiou toTernate, occupying in all seventy-eight days (or onlytwelve days short of three months), all in what wassupposed to be the favourable season, we had not onesijigle day of fair wind. We were always closebraced up, always struggling against wind, currents,and leeway, and in a vessel that would scarcely sailnearer than eight points from the wind! Everyseaman will admit that my first (and last) voyage ina boat of my own was a very unfortunate one."On again returning to Ternate I wrote the followingletter to Bates, giving my opinion of Darwin's" Origin of Species," and referring to the subject ofthe geographical distribution of animals in which Iwas much interested :

THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO 197"Ternate, December 24, i860,"Dear Bates," Many thanks for your long and interestingletter. I have myself suffered much in the same wayas you describe, and I think more severely. Thekind of tcsdmm vitcB you mention I also occasionallyexperience here. I impute it to a too monotonousexistence." I know not how, or to whom, to express fullymy admiration of Darwin's book. To Jiim it wouldseem flattery, to others self-praise ; but I do honestlybelieve that with however much patience I had workedand experimented on the subject, I could never haveapproacJied the completeness of his book, its vastaccumulation of evidence, its overwhelming argument,and its admirable tone and spirit. I really feelthankful that it has not been left to me to give thetheory to the world. Mr. Darwin has created a newscience and a new philosophy ; and I believe thatnever has such a complete illustration of a new branchof human knowledge been due to the labours andresearches of a single man. Never have such vastmasses of widely scattered and hitherto quite unconnectedfacts been combined into a system and broughtto bear upon the establishment of such a grand andnew and simple philosophy." I am surprised at your joining the north andsouth banks of the lower Amazon into one region.Did you not find a sufificiency of distinct speciesat Obydos and Barra to separate them from VillaNova and Santarem ? I am now convinced thatinsects, on the whole, do not give such true indicationsof zoological geography as birds and mammals,because, first, they have such immensely greatermeans of dispersal across rivers and seas ; second,

THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO 197"Ternate, December 24, i860,"Dear Bates," Many thanks for your long <strong>and</strong> interestingletter. I have myself suffered much in the same wayas you describe, <strong>and</strong> I think more severely. Thekind <strong>of</strong> tcsdmm vitcB you mention I also occasionallyexperience here. I impute it to a too monotonousexistence." I know not how, or to whom, to express fullymy admiration <strong>of</strong> Darwin's book. To Jiim it wouldseem flattery, to others self-praise ; but I do honestlybelieve that with however much patience I had worked<strong>and</strong> experimented on the subject, I could never haveapproacJied the completeness <strong>of</strong> his book, its vastaccumulation <strong>of</strong> evidence, its overwhelming argument,<strong>and</strong> its admirable tone <strong>and</strong> spirit. I really feelthankful that it has not been left to me to give thetheory to the world. Mr. Darwin has created a newscience <strong>and</strong> a new philosophy ; <strong>and</strong> I believe thatnever has such a complete illustration <strong>of</strong> a new branch<strong>of</strong> human knowledge been due to the labours <strong>and</strong>researches <strong>of</strong> a single man. Never have such vastmasses <strong>of</strong> widely scattered <strong>and</strong> hitherto quite unconnectedfacts been combined into a system <strong>and</strong> broughtto bear upon the establishment <strong>of</strong> such a gr<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong>new <strong>and</strong> simple philosophy." I am surprised at your joining the north <strong>and</strong>south banks <strong>of</strong> the lower Amazon into one region.Did you not find a sufificiency <strong>of</strong> distinct speciesat Obydos <strong>and</strong> Barra to separate them from VillaNova <strong>and</strong> Santarem ? I am now convinced thatinsects, on the whole, do not give such true indications<strong>of</strong> zoological geography as birds <strong>and</strong> mammals,because, first, they have such immensely greatermeans <strong>of</strong> dispersal across rivers <strong>and</strong> seas ; second,

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