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Auction: 8021 - British Empire Stamps and Covers
Lot: 1305

x North Borneo 1839 (7 Dec.) missionary entire letter from Elihu Doty at "Sandas Island" addressed to Rev. B. Bassler, Seneca County, New York, rated "2c" and showing red "new-york/ship" c.d.s. (2.9) with, on reverse, manuscript forwarding endorsement of W. Caroll, The U.S. Consular Agent on St. Helena. The lengthy and fascinating contents include "We arrived here last June, i.e., myself and family, alone, and still remain so & probably must for 1-1/2 years", "Pontianak will be a permanent Chinese Station, to which Br. Nevins is designated", ".....we are not destroyed, nor yet discouraged of the most ignorant, degraded and barbarous inhabitants of this revolted and sin polluted world", "....they are hospitable to their guests, but most vindictive towards enemies. I can testify to what has been said for their fascination for human heads....I have for nights slept under a tier of heads of our fellow men, hanging so low that my own, upon standing, has frequently come in contact with them, while the hand that severed some of them from their trunk, and the knife which left the body reeking in its own gore, were around me" and "When we remonstrated on the great wickedness of such acts & pointing to the momentoes of their ferocious cruelty, they would calmly tell you why the did only as other Dyaks do and laugh at the idea of its being wrong". Believed to be the earliest known cover from Borneo. Photo Estimate £ 2,500-3,000 Note: Elihu Doty was a missionary sent out by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. He and his family arrived at Sambas on 17 June 1839 and left Borneo in the spring of 1844, when he was transferred to Amoy, China. literature: "Elihu Doty´´s Garden - New Brunswick, Borneo and China" by Jean R. Walton, published by New Jersey Postal History Society, Vol. 32 No. 4, November 2004, pages 127-142 (copy included in lot)

Sold for
£2,300