Scope and Contents The fourth of seven notebooks kept by William Bateson during his trip to the Aral Sea and the surrounding area. The entries are part field notes and part travel diary. They include descriptions of the Aral Sea, Shū River, and nearby lakes, and of shells, plants and wildlife observed or collected, e.g. description of Lake Tele Kula Tata (pp. [6r ff]) and a list of ‘fish taken in our lagoon’ (pp. [55v ff]).There are also accounts of his travels and experiences with the Kirghiz...

Scope and Contents The second of seven notebooks kept by William Bateson during his trip to the Aral Sea and the surrounding area. The entries are part field notes and part travel diary. They include descriptions of the Aral Sea (reached on 21 August (page [8v]) and nearby salt lakes, of shells, fossils and local wildlife, and of his travels and experiences with the Kirghiz people.Entries include an account of a search for a group of thieves who stole a camel (pp. [2v-7r]); a description of the...

Scope and Contents The fifth of seven notebooks kept by William Bateson during his trip to the Aral Sea and the surrounding area. The entries are part field notes and part travel diary. They include descriptions of visits to salt lakes and water holes, of shells, crustaceans and other species observed, e.g. pp. [24v-27r[, [37r-43v] & [46r-69], and of his travels and experiences with the Kirghiz people.Entries also include accounts of an earthquake (pp. [3v-4r] & [18v]), seeing a tarantula...

Scope and Contents The third of seven notebooks kept by William Bateson during his trip to the Aral Sea and the surrounding area. The entries are part field notes and part travel diary.They include descriptions of the Aral Sea, of shells collected and local fauna, and accounts of his experiences with the Kirghiz people including local foodstuffs (e.g. eating horses and camel meat; pp. [5r-6r]) and customs (e.g. being offered a ‘wife on loan’; page [3r]; attending a parade; page [15r]). Other entries...

Scope and Contents

Seven soft-bound pocket notebooks in Bateson's hand that he used for documenting his tour of 'the Steppe'. Some have original numbers on the covers which are given in the following descriptions. Entries are mostly in pencil, with occasional use of ink. The content is often exceptionally detailed, with general observations, accounts of incidents, and notes on flora and fauna (sometimes with sketches). A large proportion of the entries are dated.

Scope and Contents

Note; by Charles Robert Darwin

(Note)

Scope and Contents Bateson, on behalf of both the Royal Society and the University of Cambridge, undertook a tour of part of western central Asia to study various biological questions arising from the gradual desiccation of 'the Steppe'. He left London on 4 May 1886 for St Petersburg, Russia, returning to Cambridge in the Autumn of 1887. The Aral Sea and the surrounding area he studied particularly closely. After Bateson's death, his widow Beatrice published the letters that he sent to his family during the...