Transcribe Ward, Henry A. Letter to Brooks, Lewis (1877-02-06)

as opening up new sources of supply and a greater renege of material. Furthermore my friends at home and in Europe consider me as booked for Ceylon and India. But I do not see that there is any other way to have done than the one which I have taken. The new building was, at my last letters from there, to have its roof on by about Dec. 15, and to be </u completed ? in March. Now they are very anxious to see the collection complete at the earliest possible moment. They have interests among their friends in Virginia and elsewhere in the South to which the Completed Cabinet, with building, is a most im- portant stepping stone. And I know very well how much \work the arranging of this Cabinet is to be even after the material is already at home. So I must renounce pleasure for work, although I must confess that to do so has cost me quite a struggle. India and the extreme East were very finely rooted in my anticipations. I succeeded well in My European Collections, sending home </u 83 > boxes, and engaging enough more to make out 100. From Egypt i shipped out 8 boxes and shall doubtless send a dozen more from the Red Sea trip which will complete what I need from these parts of the world. My collector - Mr. Hornaday - has gone on to India, and will send a few still-lacking things from there in time to be used. The elephant skeleton, a letter from home tells me, has already been shipped to me from Ceylon. All considered, my part of the </s Virginia > great Virginia Cabinet has been going on well and I suppose that I ought to be much more