Wallace’s results during his expedition and his subsequent scientific writings would have been very much poorer were it not for the assistance of Ali.Īlso in his autobiography, Wallace described Ali: Ali made significant discoveries for Wallace. Wallace normally left the shooting of birds to his assistants, including Ali, whereas he concentrated on insects. He accompanied me through all my travels, sometimes alone, but more frequently with several others, and was then very useful in teaching them their duties, as he soon became well acquainted with my wants and habits. Ali was clearly a particularly intelligent, likeable, trustworthy and competent young man. Eventually he would become Wallace’s chief assistant or “head man”. More than 30 were paid collecting assistants.Īli, later possibly known as Ali Wallace, was at first a cook and servant, and only gradually became a collecting assistant. The surviving evidence reveals well over 100 men worked for Wallace during his voyage. In John van Wyhe (2015), sourced from Gould (1869) Wallace’s Standard Wing (Semioptera wallacii), discovered by Ali. The specimens include insects, birds, reptiles, mammals and shells from Singapore, Sarawak in Borneo, Bali, Lombok, Makassar in Sulawesi, Maluku Islands, Papua, Java and Sumatra. Wallace and teams of assistants procured 125,660 natural history specimens between 18. Wallace’s expedition resulted in The Malay Archipelago, one of the classic tales from the history of science. Wallace described Ali, about 15 year old, as “attentive and clean, and could cook very well”.Įxploring the jungles, rivers and mountains, walking and boating for eight years, Wallace was helped by a team of guides, cooks, boat crew, porters and bird shooters and skinners. One of Wallace’s trusted assistants was Ali, a Malay teenager from Sarawak Borneo, or today Malaysia. The works of British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace in Southeast Asia in the 19th century cannot be separated from the role of a local resident. This is the second article of the series. To mark Wallacea Week, a series of public lectures and exhibition on the Wallacea region of Indonesia, The Conversation presents a series of analysis on biodiversity and history of science in Indonesia.
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