*1
Government House Calcutta
March 30 1850 (recd. May 25.)
To Dr. Wallich
My dear friend
Through your nephew, Dr. Cantor, I have received your long & kind letter of Feb[rua]y 2d. It reached me at this place, whither I have come, in what will prove, I fear, the vain hope of talking over Jung Bahadur into giving me free consent to travel in Nepaul [Nepal]. Many many thanks for all your friendly anxiety on my behalf during my imprisonment. I am much indebted, also, to the many persons whose enquiries & messages you convey, & I doubt not to numerous others, who are not named.
The letter from Mr. Groves written in his capacity of Secretary to the Philosophical Club, gratified me highly. To receive such a proof of interest, from such a body & couched in such language, is a better reward than distinctions & honors, & infinitely more welcome to my feelings.
All Calcutta is talking about the Sikkim fracas, & I have been questioned by Lord Dalhousie, Sir H.y Elliott, Halliday & Grey, who all concur in deeming the upshot very far from honorable to our nation & Government. I have endeavoured[sic] to place the conduct of Mr.L[ushington]., & the General, in as favorable a light as truth will bear; for both are kind friends of mine, though by no means competent men to manage such a difficult business. I dare say you have flung Indian Politics to the dogs, & I heartily wish I could do so too; but these affairs have stuck to my coat--skirts like burs, & I cannot shake myself free from them. Unfortunately, the Nepaul business is trammelled with

state considerations & has resolved itself into the question whether Jung Bahadur's Embassy to England is a proof of the stability of his sway, or the reverse. He receives all Lord D[alhousie].'s intimated desires in my favor, all Elliot's advances & all Campbell's, Hodgson's & my expressed wishes, with evident reluctance. I always suspected that he was not safe & that the mission to our Queen is a dernier ressort. Lord D[alhousie]. thought otherwise, till I had an opportunity of stating my views,-- to which his Lordship now inclines. Thorsby (long our Political Resident at the Court of the Rajah of Nepaul) has reached Calcutta today & may know something. If he considers the fears I entertain to be well-- grounded, I shall instantly withdraw my application; for I should not like to be forced upon the Durbar, & then quoted by Jung Bahadur as the cause of all his woes, in case the family of Martubar Singh, or any of the opposite faction, should take up as a grievance that an Englishman was allowed by Jung Bahadur to find out the way to conquer Nepaul. As to the huge bubble of chinese jealousy & interference, I need hardly tell you it has all blow away. The only objection to my Nepaul Expedition is the one I have now mentioned,-- so far as I can discover.-- I do hope you may be able to see Jung Bahadur & his Suite at the Gardens of Kew,--- & if I am refused Nepaul travelling-- leave don't you fail to rap him over the knuckles! He is a lively, well--informed & agreeable young man; but he looks sadly dissipated & his house this morning (I called at 6.a.m.) presented the aspect of very bad goings--on, the previous night. He seemed really anxious that I should visit his country, but not by any new route. We laughed & talked for 2 hours; & he coolly proposed me to join an expedition to lick the chinese, & make the Tsamper Yarroo (the Brahmuputra?) the boundary of British & Ghorka [Gurkha] power

I took care he should not entrap me into the smallest committal of myself,-- my opinion & views;-- but plainly could I see that the Barbarian would like nothing better than another plunder of Shigatzi & Teshoo Loombo.
I am much obliged to you for the account of the honors recently paid to Mr. Brown, & which I do not consider by any means too high. The letter of Von Martius is beautiful & must please Brown very much. Pray offer him my affectionate regards & good wishes for a reduplication of these & all other distinctions.
Your Amhustia is now in bloom, both at Sir Lawrence Peel's & the Botanic Gardens. I have not yet seen Dr. Falconer: he is at College today. Lady Dalhousie set off yesterday for Simlah [Shimla], in a sort of Palkee-- Garry, which is to travel along the great Trunk-- Road. The heat will be tremendous & I rather anticipate some disaster. She kindly brought me from Malacca a beautiful present, of 2 tables, made of various woods, exquisitely polished, & insisted on my promising that I would not give them to the Museum at Kew.
We have now only the Governor General & his 2 Aides--de Camp at Government House. They are Metcalfe & Bowie,-- pleasant fellows. The Calcutta Season is over,-- rightly glad I am to say so; & I look for a few days of peace,-- I mean for this part of the world,-- though you may well ask what that means at any time of the year in Calcutta! I have given up my Buggy Driving, in sheer disgust at having to ask my way every 10 yards, & I have taken a stout Chuprapee & Palkee Garry,-- to my vast comfort.
Madden & Grant you have probably seen, ere now:-- pray give them my kind regards. I do not know Strachey. I left Thomson

at Darjeeling to await the issue of my negotiations about Nepaul Give my best regards to Mrs. W., & all your family, & to Dr. Boott.
Affectionately yours' | (signed) Joseph D. Hooker: