You can write to me in Concepción, Chile, by way of Buenos Aires, around the beginning of September; by mid-October of this (current) year, you can direct here (to Cádiz) a letter for Lima, to be forwarded on the vessels which go in that direction. Then, from January to April of next year, you can write to Cartagena of the Indies, or Guayaquíl or Panamá, according to the letter you will receive by post; then, in June or July, you will have to adjust our means of correspondence because my arrangements for the second year will depend very much on whether this year's experience meets with [success] (1) or difficulty.
Do reassure dear Abbot Ximénez concerning the conduct of the young Ala [Ponzone], because describing his [tendency to] dissent to another will only serve to disconcert him more.
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(*) Original now lost; copy in ACAM; D. MANFREDI, Alessandro Malaspina e Fabio Ala Ponzone. Lettere dal Vecchio e Nuovo Mondo (1788-1803), Bologna, Il Mulino, 1999, p. 201. The document is in the handwriting of Azzo Giacinto Malaspina, who apparently forwarded this fragment of the letter to Ramón Ximénez. [Editing Criteria]
Text courtesy of the Centro di Studi Malaspiniani, Mulazzo, Italy; notes by Dario Manfredi; translated by Manuela Fahme and John Black.
Updated: June 5, 2018