Darjeeling
Aug 1. 1848 *1
My Dear Father When I wrote you a week ago it was under the impression that the mail left Calcutta on the 3d. it is however the 10th from this month & so I address you again. I have taken advantage of the fit to write many letters to Humboldt, De la Beche Lord Morpeth, & a good many others. I intend to add Mr Philipp to the list but did n after addressing Lord M. but will by next mail. I hoped further to have made this a long & journal letter & set aside this, the really last morning on purpose, but a very heavy gale of wind last night (these are rare here) did so much damage to the Forests that I have taken advantage of it to get many timber plants in flower & fruit which I wanted very badly. I have just brought in a great hamper full with 2 Epiphyte Vaccinia new to me, a Misseltoe[sic] 10ft high & as much in spread, some dozen Fer the branch of an immense oak hard by; the stems are about 8-- from one point & each as thick as my arm --, it is a new species, I have only 2 Loranthi & 2 Vis

of oaks I have 8, they are now ripening their acorns, but these are not fit till October & November. The Streptolirion of Edgeworth is in full flower & very pretty. I have sent a stock of sorts down by Post Bhanghy but they will be 20 days of reaching Calcutta *2 this season[.] I have 2 more mens' loads of Orchideae[sic] to go down, chiefly Dendrobia & Coelogyne. The Rubi[aceae] are now fruiting & I am waiting the seed. I have 13 species but not seeds of all. There are 3 large stinging nettles here now coming in flower & endless other Urticeae, they have stung me to day through the trousers & raised great weals on the legs & arms of my poor naked Lepchas who only laugh at such disasters. I found a Ficus today close by, alt[itude] 7600 about, a higher limit than I supposed it to attain.
The woods are covered with Arum, Balsam, Streptolirion & Polygona[sic] forming the mass of herbage, there are no grasses but the small Bamboo. & I can get the flower of this no where. The Figs are wonderful, as big as 2 fists.-- not bad stewed with Port wine. Laurinea[sic] abound I have many species some have delicious scented berries. Cyrtandreae are only coming into flower, Begonia are plentiful I have sent roots of several down & will get more: the Magnolia are all fruiting nicely which I am glad of as I can no where find young plants though

the old are so abundant. I have just seen a long letter from Madden who talks of sailing to England in spring & giving you the pick of all his collections. Winterbottom has joined Strachey (the brother of Thib[et]. mission) who is surveying Kumaon. I still hope to reach the snow from this & shall try even if I get no permission, in October; but without Gov[ernmen]t permission I cannot travel effectively for the Lepchas daren't go for fear of being kidnapped & fined or sold as slaves for shewing[sic] the way. Campbell is very civil & will I hope manage this yet.: but he dreads getting into a scrape with Gov[ernmen]t. & has no pluck. My only requirements are mountaineer serv[an]ts who have no property in Sikkim to lose. My route will be W[est]. to the Nepaul [Nepal] frontier & there N[orth]. to Kinchin junga [Kanchenjunga]: but there are no roads & so I shall have to cut the a way, which is not difficult but very tedious.
Rubiaceae & Myrtaceae & Leguminosae are rare here the two latter very much so. I have 20 Araliaceae & abound in Rosaceae, Aroideae, & Verbenaceae, Laurinceae, & Acanthaceae 0. but plenty 3000 ft lower[.] The number of timber trees is very remarkable but few have good wood. Walnut is one of the best, the fruit exactly like ours but leaf different, the fruit of the Bootan [Bhutan] kind is thin shelled

& better than this. The Plantain is in flower & I have the ♂ it is not eaten but a cultivar is grown at 4000 ft introduced from the plains it is not good. I got the truly wild Mango the other day from 4000 ft.
I sent seed of the ground Raspberry, a Rubus sow in cool place & grow in open air with Vacc[inium]. Oxycoccos & Tussack.
In great haste yr mst aft son | Jos. D Hooker [signature]
Tree fern scraps enclosed can't name it though very near Als. gigantea & perhaps that.