Editing Alfred Russel Wallace (section)

=== Exploration and study of the natural world ===
Inspired by the chronicles of earlier and contemporary travelling naturalists, Wallace decided to travel abroad.{{sfn|Slotten|2004|pp=34–37}} He later wrote that Darwin's ''Journal'' and Humboldt's ''Personal Narrative'' were "the two works to whose inspiration I owe my determination to visit the tropics as a collector."{{sfn|Wallace|1905a|p= [http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?viewtype=side&itemID=A237.1&pageseq=289 256]}} After reading ''A Voyage up the River Amazon'' by [[William Henry Edwards]], Wallace and Bates estimated that by collecting and selling natural history specimens such as birds and insects they could meet their costs, with the prospect of good profits.<ref name="Wyhe bio sketch" /> They therefore engaged as their agent [[Samuel Stevens (naturalist)|Samuel Stevens]] who would advertise and arrange sales to institutions and private collectors, for a commission of 20% on sales plus 5% on despatching freight and remittances of money.{{sfn|van Wyhe|2013|pp=34–36}}

In 1848, Wallace and Bates left for Brazil aboard the ''Mischief''. They intended to collect insects and other animal specimens in the [[Amazon Rainforest]] for their private collections, selling the duplicates to museums and collectors back in Britain to fund the trip. Wallace hoped to gather evidence of the [[transmutation of species]]. Bates and he spent most of their first year collecting near [[Belém]], then explored inland separately, occasionally meeting to discuss their findings. In 1849, they were briefly joined by another young explorer, the botanist [[Richard Spruce]], along with Wallace's younger brother Herbert. Herbert soon left (dying two years later from [[yellow fever]]), but Spruce, like Bates, would spend over ten years collecting in South America.{{sfn|Wilson|2000|p=36}}{{sfn|Raby|2002|pp=89, 98–99, 120–121}} Wallace spent four years charting the [[Rio Negro (Amazon)|Rio Negro]], collecting specimens and making notes on the peoples and languages he encountered as well as the geography, flora, and fauna.{{sfn|Raby|2002|pp=89–95}}

On 12 July 1852, Wallace embarked for the UK on the brig ''Helen''. After 25 days at sea, the ship's cargo caught fire, and the crew was forced to abandon ship. All the specimens Wallace had on the ship, mostly collected during the last, and most interesting, two years of his trip, were lost. He managed to save a few notes and pencil sketches, but little else. Wallace and the crew spent ten days in an open boat before being picked up by the brig ''Jordeson'', which was sailing from Cuba to London. The ''Jordeson''{{'s}} provisions were strained by the unexpected passengers, but after a difficult passage on short rations, the ship reached its destination on 1 October 1852.{{sfn|Shermer|2002|pp=72–73}}{{sfn|Slotten|2004|pp=84–88}}

The lost collection had been insured for £200 by Stevens.{{sfn|van Wyhe|2013|p=36}} After his return to Britain, Wallace spent 18 months in London living on the insurance payment, and selling a few specimens that had been shipped home. During this period, despite having lost almost all the notes from his South American expedition, he wrote six academic papers (including "On the Monkeys of the Amazon") and two books, ''Palm Trees of the Amazon and Their Uses'' and ''Travels on the Amazon''.{{sfn|Wilson|2000|p=45}} At the same time, he made connections with several other British naturalists.{{sfn|Slotten|2004|pp=84–88}}{{sfn|Raby|2002|p=148}}<ref name="Bibliography"/>

[[File:Wallace map archipelago.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|A map from ''[[The Malay Archipelago]]'' shows the physical geography of the archipelago and Wallace's travels around the area. The thin black lines indicate where Wallace travelled; the red lines indicate chains of volcanoes.|alt=Map of Wallace's travels in the Malay Archipelago]]

Bates and others were collecting in the Amazon area, Wallace was more interested in new opportunities in the [[Malay Archipelago]] as demonstrated by the travel writings of [[Ida Laura Pfeiffer]], and valuable insect specimens she collected which Stevens sold as her agent. In March 1853 Wallace wrote to Sir [[James Brooke]], Rajah of Sarawak, who was then in London, and who arranged assistance in Sarawak for Wallace.{{sfn|van Wyhe|2013|pp=37–40}}<ref name="WCP3072">{{cite web|url=https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP3072|title=Letter WCP3072 – James Brooke to Alfred Russel Wallace, 1 April (1853), from Ranger's Lodge, Hyde Park, London| publisher =Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection|access-date=13 October 2022}}</ref> In June Wallace wrote to [[Roderick Murchison|Murchison]] at the [[Royal Geographical Society]] (RGS) for support, proposing to again fund his exploring entirely from sale of duplicate collections.<ref name="WCP4308">{{cite web|url=https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP4308|title=Letter WCP4308 – Alfred Russel Wallace to Roderick Impey Murchison, Royal Geographical Society, June 1853| publisher =Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection|access-date=14 October 2022}}</ref> He later recalled that, while researching in the insect-room of the [[British Museum]], he was introduced to Darwin and they "had a few minutes' conversation." After presenting a paper and a large map of the Rio Negro to the RGS, Wallace was elected a Fellow of the society on 27 February 1854.{{sfn|van Wyhe|2013|p=41}}<ref name="Black & White 1903">{{cite web | url=http://wallace-online.org/content/frameset?pageseq=1&itemID=S599&viewtype=text |title=Alfred Russel Wallace, The dawn of a great discovery: 'My relations with Darwin in reference to the theory of natural selection' |date=17 January 1903 |magazine=[[Black & White (magazine)|Black & White]]| access-date=14 October 2022}}</ref> Free passage arranged on [[Royal Navy]] ships was stalled by the [[Crimean War]], but eventually the RGS funded first class travel by [[P&O (company)|P&O]] steamships. Wallace and a young assistant, Charles Allen, embarked at Southampton on 4 March 1854. After the overland journey to Suez and another change of ship at Ceylon they disembarked at Singapore on 19 April 1854.{{sfn|van Wyhe|2013|pp=41, 46, 54–59}}

From 1854 to 1862, Wallace travelled around the islands of the Malay Archipelago or [[East Indies]] (now Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia).<ref name="travels Malay Archipelago">{{cite web | title=Chronology of Wallace's travels in the Malay Archipelago | website=The Alfred Russel Wallace Website | date=4 April 2018 | url=https://wallacefund.myspecies.info/content/chronology-wallaces-travels-malay-archipelago | access-date=20 October 2022}}</ref> His main objective "was to obtain specimens of natural history, both for my private collection and to supply duplicates to museums and amateurs". In addition to Allen, he "generally employed one or two, and sometimes three Malay servants" as assistants, and paid large numbers of local people at various places to bring specimens. His total was 125,660 specimens, most of which were insects including more than 83,000 beetles,{{sfn|Wallace|1869|pp=[http://wallace-online.org/content/frameset?pageseq=25&itemID=S715.1&viewtype=text xiii–xiv]}}<ref name="Wallace's Help">{{cite journal | last=van Wyhe | first=John | title=Wallace's Help: The Many People Who Aided A. R. Wallace in the Malay Archipelago | journal=Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society | publisher=Project Muse | volume=91 | issue=1 | year=2018 | issn=2180-4338 | doi=10.1353/ras.2018.0003 | pages=41–68| s2cid=201769115 }} [http://darwin-online.org.uk/people/2018,%20John%20van%20Wyhe,%20Wallace's%20help.pdf pdf at Darwin Online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221031162707/http://darwin-online.org.uk/people/2018%2C%20John%20van%20Wyhe%2C%20Wallace%27s%20help.pdf |date=31 October 2022 }}</ref> Several thousand of the specimens represented species new to science,{{sfn|Shermer|2002|p=14}} Overall, more than thirty men worked for him at some stage as full-time paid collectors. He also hired guides, porters, cooks and boat crews, so well over 100 individuals worked for him.<ref name="ali" />

[[File:SANTUBONG Mission’s seaside resort (1850s), watercolour by Harriette McDougall.png|thumb|[[Mount Santubong]] around 1855, watercolour by missionary [[Harriette McDougall]]]]

After collecting expeditions to [[Bukit Timah Hill]] in Singapore, and to [[Malacca]], Wallace and Allen reached Sarawak in October 1854, and were welcomed at [[Kuching]] by Sir James Brooke's (then) heir [[John Brooke Johnson Brooke|Captain John Brooke]]. Wallace hired a Malay named [[Ali Wallace (naturalist)|Ali]] as a general servant and cook, and spent the early 1855 wet season in a small Dyak house at the foot of [[Mount Santubong]], overlooking [[Santubong River|a branch outlet of the Sarawak River]]. He read about species distribution, notes on [[François Jules Pictet de la Rive|Pictets]]'s Palaeontology, and wrote his "Sarawak Paper".{{sfn|van Wyhe|2013|pp=97, 99–101, 103–105}} In March he moved to the [[Simunjan District|Simunjon]] coal-works, operated by the [[Borneo Company]] under [[Ludvig Verner Helms]], and supplemented collecting by paying workers a cent for each insect. A specimen of the previously unknown gliding tree frog ''[[Rhacophorus nigropalmatus]]'' (now called Wallace's [[flying frog]]) came from a Chinese workman who told Wallace that it glided down. Local people also assisted with shooting [[orangutan]]s.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://wallacefund.myspecies.info/file/225 |title=Wallace's Flying Frog (''Rhacophorus nigropalmatus'') |publisher=The Alfred Russel Wallace Website |access-date=20 October 2022}}</ref><ref name="Wallace's Help" /> They spent time with Sir James, then in February 1856 Allen chose to stay on with [[Francis McDougall|the missionaries]] at Kuching.<ref name="Alen">{{cite journal | last1=Rookmaaker | first1=Kees | last2=Wyhe | first2=John van | title=In Alfred Russel Wallace's Shadow: His Forgotten Assistant, Charles Allen (1839–1892) | journal=Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society | volume=85 | issue=2 303 | year=2012 | issn=0126-7353 | jstor=24894190 | pages=17–54 | url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/24894190 | access-date=24 October 2022}} [http://darwin-online.org.uk/people/2012,%20Rookmaaker%20&%20van%20Wyhe,%20In%20Wallace's%20shadow,%20Charles%20Allen.pdf pdf at Darwin Online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221031162707/http://darwin-online.org.uk/people/2012%2C%20Rookmaaker%20%26%20van%20Wyhe%2C%20In%20Wallace%27s%20shadow%2C%20Charles%20Allen.pdf |date=31 October 2022 }}</ref>{{sfn|van Wyhe|2013|pp=133–137}}

On reaching Singapore in May 1856, Wallace hired a bird-skinner. With Ali as cook, they collected for two days on [[Bali]], then from 17 June to 30 August on [[Lombok]].{{sfn|van Wyhe|2013|pp=137, 145–147}} In December 1856, Darwin had written to contacts worldwide to get specimens for his continuing research into variation under [[domestication]].{{sfn|van Wyhe|2013|pp=133–134}}<ref name="Letter 1812, CD memo">{{cite web | title= Letter no. 1812, CD memorandum | website=Darwin Correspondence Project | date=December 1855 | url=https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-1812.xml | access-date=30 October 2022}}</ref> At Lombok's port city, [[Mataram (city)|Ampanam]], Wallace wrote telling his agent, Stevens, about specimens shipped, including a [[domestic duck]] variety "for Mr. Darwin & he would perhaps also like the [[Junglefowl|jungle cock]], which is often domesticated here & is doubtless one of the originals of the domestic breed of poultry."<ref name="WCP1703 Lombok">{{cite web|url=https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP1703 |title=Letter WCP1703 – Alfred Russel Wallace to Samuel Stevens, from Ampanam, Lombock Island, 21 August 1856 | publisher =Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection|access-date=30 October 2022}}</ref>
In the same letter, Wallace said birds from Bali and Lombok, divided by a narrow strait, "belong to two quite distinct zoological provinces, of which they form the extreme limits", [[Indomalayan realm|Java, Borneo, Sumatra and Malacca]], and [[Australasian realm|Australia and the Moluccas]]. Stevens arranged publication of relevant paragraphs in the January 1857 issue of ''[[The Zoologist]]''. After further investigation, the zoogeographical boundary eventually became known as the [[Wallace Line]].{{sfn|van Wyhe|2013|pp=149–151}}<ref name="Zoologist 1857">{{cite web |title=S31. Wallace, A. R. 1857. [Letter dated 21 August 1856, Lombock]. Zoologist 15 (171–172): 5414–5416. | website=Wallace Online | url=http://wallace-online.org/content/frameset?pageseq=1&itemID=S031&viewtype=side | access-date=8 November 2022}}, also [https://people.wku.edu/charles.smith/wallace/S031.htm Proceedings of Natural-History Collectors in Foreign Countries, by Alfred Russel Wallace]</ref>

Ali became Wallace's most trusted assistant, a skilled collector and researcher. Wallace collected and preserved the delicate insect specimens, while most of the birds were collected and prepared by his assistants; of those, Ali collected and prepared around 5000.<ref name="ali">{{cite journal |last1=van Wyhe |first1=John |last2=Drawhorn |first2=Gerrell M. |title='I am Ali Wallace': The Malay Assistant of Alfred Russel Wallace |journal=Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society |volume=88 |pages=3–31 |year=2015 |doi=10.1353/ras.2015.0012 |s2cid=159453047 }} [http://darwin-online.org.uk/people/2015,%20John%20van%20Wyhe,%20I%20am%20Ali%20Wallace.pdf pdf at Darwin Online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221031163208/http://darwin-online.org.uk/people/2015,%20John%20van%20Wyhe,%20I%20am%20Ali%20Wallace.pdf |date=31 October 2022 }}</ref>
While exploring the archipelago, Wallace refined his thoughts about evolution, and had his famous insight on [[natural selection]]. In 1858 he sent an article outlining his theory to Darwin; it was published, along with a description of Darwin's theory, that same year.{{sfn|Browne|2002|pp=35–42}}

Accounts of Wallace's studies and adventures were eventually published in 1869 as ''[[The Malay Archipelago]]''. This became one of the most popular books of scientific exploration of the 19th century, and has never been out of print. It was praised by scientists such as Darwin (to whom the book was dedicated), by Lyell, and by non-scientists such as the novelist [[Joseph Conrad]]. Conrad called the book his "favorite bedside companion" and used information from it for several of his novels, especially ''[[Lord Jim]]''.{{sfn|Slotten|2004|p=267}}
A set of 80 bird skeletons Wallace collected in Indonesia are held in the [[Cambridge University Museum of Zoology]], and described as of exceptional historical significance.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.museum.zoo.cam.ac.uk/collections.archives/historical.significance/ |title=Historical significance |publisher=[[Cambridge University Museum of Zoology]] |date=18 April 2009 |access-date=13 March 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101119040924/https://www.museum.zoo.cam.ac.uk/collections.archives/historical.significance |archive-date=19 November 2010}}</ref>

{| class="center toccolours"
|+ '''Specimens and illustrations'''
|<gallery mode="packed" heights="200px" style="line-height:130%">
File:Alfred Russel Wallace01.jpg|''[[Arenga pinnata]]'' sketched by Wallace in [[Sulawesi|Celebes]], reworked by [[Walter Hood Fitch]]|alt=Wallace's sketch of a tree
File:Naturalis Biodiversity Center - RMNH.AVES.144722 2 - Mino anais anais (Lesson, 1839) - Sturnidae - bird skin specimen.jpeg|Wallace collected many specimens, such as this ''[[Mino anais]] anais'' from South [[Western New Guinea|West Papua]], 1863.|alt=photograph of a bird specimen collected by Wallace
File:Wallace frog.jpg|An illustration from ''[[The Malay Archipelago]]'' depicts the [[flying frog]] that a workman handed to Wallace.|alt=illustration of Wallace's flying frog
</gallery>
|-
| style="text-align:left" | 
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