18 Alfred Russel Wallace – The Return to England
According to his notes Wallace read On the Origin of Species five or six times with
increasing admiration for its vast accumulation of evidence and its overwhelming
argument for the evolution of species. There was no hint of rancour or jealousy when
he wrote:
The cycles of astronomy or even the periods of geology will alone enable us to appreciate
the vast depths of time we have to contemplate in the endeavour to understand the slow
growth of life upon the earth ... Mr Darwin has given the world a new science, and his name
should in my opinion, stand above that of every philosopher of ancient or modern times.
The force of admiration can no further go!!!In fact Wallace may have felt relieved that he would not have to experience the
personal attacks that were now being directed against Charles Darwin. At least Darwin
had the prestige and determined backing of his friends and fellow scientists like Lyell,
Hooker and Huxley, which the relatively unknown Wallace may not have received.
Now thirty-nine years old, Wallace was ready to return to England. A particularly long
and dangerous voyage back to Ternate from the island of Waigeo had used up all his
energy and he was prepared to admit in letters home that ‘My health, too, gives way
and I cannot now put up so well with fatigue and privations as at first’.
Notwithstanding his fatigue, he took a circuitous route home while trying to fill in
the gaps in his knowledge of the archipelago. He followed the route of the monthly
Dutch mail steamer, stopping first at the islands of Timor and Buru, then returning to
Ternate before stopping in Manado, Macassar, Surabaya, Batavia and finally in south
Sumatra on his way to Singapore. In Singapore, Wallace parted with his faithful and
reliable Ali. It was Ali who had accompanied him during his travels around Indonesia,
who had learned to shoot and skin birds, who had cooked for him, and nursed him
back to health during his various illnesses. He also became a reliable boatman and in
several instances he could have helped save both their lives. Wallace took him to a
photographic studio and had a portrait taken of Ali in European clothes:
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