Transcribe Hornaday, W. T. Letter to Ward, Henry A. (1877-07-01)

Madras. I shall simply look upon it as a debt, and discharge it then & there though it bust me on the spot. And the amt.. - whatever it is - I will simply put down in the cost of the skeletons. I am sure such chance will never come to you again, and I am going to strike while the iron is hot. The way elephants are in Ceylon, even if I permission, I am sure from what I know that 2 skels. could not be got for less than 35 Lbs or 40 Lbs. I hope I am carrying out your ideas & principles in the movement, and after study- ing it in all points carefully, I think I am. If I should leave without success in the Anamullays, my visit to Southern India would be a bad failure. The Neilgherries were a failure, and I defy any man to get into my boots and prove them other- wise. Everything is so awfully dear up there - natives, food, conveyance, supplies, - every- thing in fact. I wish I had not gone there, but on paper & in books it is a sportsman's & naturalists paradise. It takes too long to get a little, and one has to run over too much country.

    But the Anamullays are not shot over

</u atall >, and I hope to find the game much thicker. Tomorrow I lay in supplies. The Drs tell me it is absolutely necessary to drink brandy there, so I shall take some & charge it with other stores, as you