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Darjeeling April 2nd
" I wish you could see my splendid Bhotea mastiffs, enormous creatures, and very handsome; covered with long silky hair, that stands out on all sides; they have high rising foreheads & small eyes, tremendous tails curled over their backs & they are possessed of great power and strength. Unfortunately they are extremely savage, as bad as Bruno when I first had them; but by letting no one feed them but myself, I tamed both & now there is a regular uproar, whenever they see me.
The big one bit three people in the first two days & getting them both here through the Bazaar, was no joke: they went tail & end doing battle with all the dogs, & scattering crowds of people right & left. I have also a little puppy, of a different breed a cross

between a Thibet mastiff (as which the others are) & a Lepcha hunting dog. Him I bought when very young, & carried him up Kinchin [Kanchenjunga] where he was christened of that ilk, in the snow. -- He was so dirty that soap would not clean touch him; so I devised a mix mixture of mustard-oil &wood- ashes, wherewith he was daily scrubbed till clean, & then flung up in a burn of snow--water, to rinse him. He is very clever, but early developed propensities like Skye, for fish, & other bones, of which, however, I have broken him. Also he took to the cook with sad propensity alacrity & shewed[sic] many specimens of tempers & evil dispositions, which caused me great uneasiness "Kinchin" was a great thief, & one day ate demolished half a cheese, which was carelessly left within reach. He betrayed fie also violent disobedience & refused for two days to eat rice, because I had given him chicken bones; now this was extremely ungrateful, for I had nothing but rice for myself, & gave him half my dinner. He soon learned English, & was rapidly acquiring many accomplishments, with his fingers, so that I began teaching him writing when

an unfortunate accident frustrated this purpose, so that his fingers are now as stiff as the other dogs! When up in the snows, I was one day sitting writing in my tent, no one being near, I looked out of a hole & saw "Kinchin" down at the kitchen, (which consisted of 3 large stones, a fire below, & a pot above), -- his head, -- I shudder to go on -- was in my dinner; I called, & called over, & over again; but as he did could not see me, he did not choose to obey, & it was snowing too hard for me to venture out.
Now he is 6 months old, & a fine youth, very well-behaved but sadly addicted to Smelling. Whenever he finds a new plant, he points at it, if it is too large for him to bring, till some one comes up to his assistance, or if it be small, he brings fetches it to me in his mouth."
Irstead, Hampstead, Oxford, & Kew. *2