From Henry Walter Bates 6 January 1862
King St Leicester
6 Jany 1862
My Dear Sir
I have now finished the rough draught of 5 chapters of my book & send you by this post the 2nd for perusal according to your kind offer to do so. I do not know how I shall repay you for all this.1
Your suggestions on 1st chapter shall be all carried out.2 Your good opinion has delighted my Father & Brother as well as myself.3 The recommendation to alter the arrangement ⟨ ⟩ putting the historical sketch last is just the kind of correction that I feel most to need.4 As to your statement that the argument on the effects of climate on dress is original & you are certainly too generous:5 I find there is something to the same effect in your “Journal”, (popular ed. p 381)6 as my notions were suggested whilst on the Amazons the two conclusions have been derived independently & therefore my remarks will be interesting; but I must quote your passage in a note.7
⟨ ⟩ loose statement of the rocks being cretacean is der⟨ived⟩ from Mr Wallace’s book;8 No ⟨fossil⟩ was found & therefore it is useless to employ the word. I shall feel obliged to introduce a little Geology—so much as I observed which contributes to explain the latest changes & therefore connects itself with Geograph. Distribution of the Fauna. I must consult some Geologist before I do it.— One of my little theories is that part of the Delta of the Amazons was land probably an island whilst most of the Alluvial plain was under water; & that the Amazon waters have broken through it. I shall be careful however not to advance too much in the book.
As to explaining the “We” ⟨you⟩r remark shows me that there must ⟨be so⟩mething very abrupt & unsatisfactory in my commencement! I will add a straight forward preface ⟨e⟩xplaining the object of journey of Mr ⟨W⟩allace & self &c &c.—or would you incorporate the explanation in the text of 1st chapter.9
Please criticize this 2nd chapter without reserve. I am not satisfied with the arrangement of the matter nor with the argument on the text of Burmeister’s remarks.10 But I know you will be candid with me as before.
Yours sincerely | H W Bates
C. Darwin esq.
Footnotes
Bibliography
Bates, Henry Walter. 1863. The naturalist on the River Amazons. A record of adventures, habits of animals, sketches of Brazilian and Indian life, and aspects of nature under the equator, during eleven years of travel. 2 vols. London: John Murray.
Burmeister, Karl Hermann Konrad. 1853. Reise nach Brasilien, durch die Provinzen von Rio de Janeiro und Minas geraës. Berlin.
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Journal of researches: Journal of researches into the geology and natural history of the various countries visited by HMS Beagle, under the command of Captain FitzRoy, RN, from 1832 to 1836. By Charles Darwin. London: Henry Colburn. 1839.
Wallace, Alfred Russel. 1853. A narrative of travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro, with an account of the native tribes, and observations on the climate, geology, and natural history of the Amazon valley. London: Reeve.
Summary
Sends CD ch. 2 of his book [The naturalist on the river Amazons] for suggestions, having accepted CD’s recommendations concerning ch. 1.
Effects of climate on dress in ch. 1 similar to, but independent of, notions expressed by CD in his Journal of researches [p. 381].
On geology, book deals with distribution and theory of deltas of the Amazon.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-3377
- From
- Henry Walter Bates
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- Leicester
- Source of text
- DAR 160.1: 64
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp damaged
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 3377,” accessed on 20 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-3377.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 10