Talk:The Malay Archipelago

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An entry from The Malay Archipelago appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know? column on 9 May 2007.

This article grew out of some work I was doing for the Alfred Russel Wallace article. It is more than a stub but it could still use expansion. In particular I would like to find more information oan how The Malay Archipelago has been used over the years by scientists, governement officials, other authors and the like. I also know it was translated into many other languages, but I have never been able to find a stat for how many.Rusty Cashman 18:29, 5 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Expedition?

Very interesting article, Rusty. Whose/which expedition was he on? Or did he travel alone? 86.146.46.120 14:01, 13 July 2007 (UTC)

Unlike Darwin on the HMS Beagle, or Huxley on the HMS Rattlesnake, Wallace was never part of any official expedition. His explorations in South East Asia like his earlier explorations in South America were financed by the sale of specimens to museums and wealthy collectors back in Europe. The Royal Geographical Society did help Wallace with his passage to Singapore and with getting permission from the Dutch government to travel in Indonesia (which was then the Dutch East Indies). His only traveling companions in the archipelago were his assistants. The first was a young Englishman named Charles Allen, who only stayed with Wallace for 18 months, and the other was a Malay youth name Ali (nobody seems to have recorded a surname for him) who joined Wallace shortly before Allen left, and stayed with him until his return to England. I am glad you liked the article. It should probably be expanded.Rusty Cashman 21:23, 13 July 2007 (UTC)