Hooker, Sir Joseph Dalton
JHC75
Tungu, North East Sikkim, 13500 ft,India
JDH/1/10 f.191-193
Hooker, Sir William Jackson
The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
25-7-1849
© Descendants of Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker
Indian Letters 1847-1851
The Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
English
Original MS
12 page letter over 3 folios
 

JDH has written to Frances [Henslow] & since then has stood on the table plateau beyond the Sikkim boundary. He thought the Tchebu Lama’s letter had removed all difficulties, however Campbell had misunderstood. The Singtam Soubah is a good man but JDH describes difficulties with the Lachen Soubah & the Choongtam Lama. Everybody he met denied the existence of the Kongra Lama pass. The Rajah asked him to return to Darjeeling but JDH refused. The Soubah has been in Lhasa Dijauhi[?] & promised to take JDH to Tungu, but JDH had promised not to enter Tibet or 'Cheen'. After JDH treated the Singtam Soubah when he was ill, the man agreed to take him to Kongra Lama & told him that Tungu was actually in Sikkim. Samdong, the bridge, is 8 miles north of the Lachen River. The Soubah of Lachen made his apologies & the Bhoteans are civil to him again. JDH describes their journey. Tibetans use the route to graze their yaks & make butter which they eat with Fagopyrum bread. He discusses the churns they use. JDH describes visiting Peppin’s [the Lachen Soubah] camp with his dog Kinchin. They then travelled between Kinchin –jow & Chomiomo until they reached a ridge connecting the two on which a cairn stood. JDH was finally at the back of the Himalayas; comparing it to Kanglachan &Wallanchoon[?]. He discusses the snow line. He made a sketch of the landscape. The vegetation was sparse but he got good barometer readings. JDH returned on a sure-footed Tartar pony. He cannot stay there long as the road to Choongtam is too poor for food to be collected. His men often fall ill between Choongtam & Darjeeling but he treats them with quinine & calomel. JDH will not return to Darjeeling until Sep or Oct.

Transcript

felt bound so assure him that my instructions were explicit, that I should wait where I was for order from Campbell which could not be before 20 days -- He knowing how short of food we were grinned acquiescence fancying he would soon starve me out -- I in turn knew that the greedy old Rajah by way of insuring his getting on with his duty had only allowed him & his coolies (sent to repair the road back) only 10 days food. Being camped at 11500 ft I had plenty to do lots of new plants & was as busy as possible every day & all day for 9 or 10 days the Soubah visited me every morning & we had long chats, he is a fine fellow & has been in Lhassa Diyanbi &c & told frankly & freely all he knew giving me much curious information. Talking one morning of the Mt chains, I asked him for a rude sketch of those bounding Sikkim he called for a great sheet of paper & charcoal & wanted to make his mountains of sand -- I ordered rice of which we had sore little & scattered it about wastefully -- it had its effect. he stared at my wealth -- , & after bidding him good bye (the suitor always is you know to send your visitor away) I saw no more of my rice which was ominous for as to his granary. Not

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Tungu NE Sikkim 13500ft
July 25 1849
My dear Father
I wrote to Frances [Henslow] on the 9th since which I have carried my point & stood on the Table--land of Thibet [Tibet] beyond the Sikkim frontier at the back of all the snowy mts. alt 15500ft. When my last letter went I thought the way was open & that the Tchebu Lama's letter would have put all difficulties away, it furthered me one march North & no more, for that careless fellow Campbell had not seen that it specified the nature of the Pass & I was as open to deceit as ever. The Singtam Soubah is a very civil good fellow but he has his instructions of course to allow all obstructions to take their course & rather back them than the contrary. He therefore professed profound ignorance of the road. The Lachen Soubah swore to a pretty bridge -- the Choongtam Lama domiciled himself 10 miles ahead professedly in Thibet & charged every soul man woman & child with the same lie, the Lacha Soubah

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intercepted all parties coming up, my coolies were so threatened that I could not take them on myself at the risk of supplies being cut off a tergo *1 -- so I had no choice but to try patience again, camped & told the Singtam Soubah that we were very good friends & I would ask the Tchebu Lama about the frontier which was I knew 3 marches ahead on a hill called "Kongra Lama" close to a Chinese guard -- Now so effectual is the mendacity system carried on that of hundreds of people we enquired of not one would acknowledge there was such a place, old men & little children it was all the same -- Now the Singtam Soubah's instructions I also saw were to be most civil & draw me away -- he represented the Rajah's affection for me as boundless, should I be lost in a stream or come to hurt, nothing short of a Chuyt at Lhassa & annual worship could be thought of. The R[ajah]s anxiety on my behalf alone induced him to pray my return to Dorjiling [Darjeeling] &c &c. The more civil he was the more so was I but I

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felt bound so assure him that my instructions were explicit, that I should wait where I was for order from Campbell which could not be before 20 days -- He knowing how short of food we were grinned acquiescence fancying he would soon starve me out -- I in turn knew that the greedy old Rajah by way of insuring his getting on with his duty had only allowed him & his coolies (sent to repair the road back) only 10 days food. Being camped at 11500 ft I had plenty to do lots of new plants & was as busy as possible every day & all day for 9 or 10 days the Soubah visited me every morning & we had long chats, he is a fine fellow & has been in Lhassa Diyanbi &c & told frankly & freely all he knew giving me much curious information. Talking one morning of the Mt chains, I asked him for a rude sketch of those bounding Sikkim he called for a great sheet of paper & charcoal & wanted to make his mountains of sand -- I ordered rice of which we had sore little & scattered it about wastefully -- it had its effect. he stared at my wealth -- , & after bidding him good bye (the suitor always is you know to send your visitor away) I saw no more of my rice which was ominous for as to his granary. Not

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long afterward he volunteered to take me a ride to Tungu which all swore was across the border, I agreed if the tent should go .--he dare not let me -- why? -- it was "Cheen" (Thibet.) -- then I said I had given my promise not to go into Cheen & would wait till my orders from Darjeeling came -- he was non--plussed again -- Well, on the 10th day it pleased providence to afflict the Soubah of Singtam with a sore colic so that he could not pay me his morning visit & as I did not ask for him he took for granted I was angry & dare not ask for medicine. This was owing to the quantity of wild stuffs the poor soul had eked out his fare with -- A Serv[an]t came at night to tell me how bad his master was -- like to die -- he said -- twisting his fingers together & laying them across the pit of his Stomach to indicate the commotions of the Soubah's inside -- I gave him a great dose at once & he was on his legs next morning looking woefully. He tells me he had heard of "Konga Lama" & would take me there one night at Tungu. I gave the same answer -- Oh he said Tungu is not in Cheen it is in Sikkim then? -- Yes ! Very well we will all go tomorrow morning & will stay

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as long as I please -- there was no help for it so he laughed acquiescence.
Samdong (a bridge) the name of this my last place of detention is about 8 miles North of the fork of the Zemu & Lachen in a stunted forest of Juniper & webbiana. It is on the Lachen river & the banks on either side are low & grassy swarming with good plants, marshy flats border the river good yak grazing ground, & I added 50 or 100 species to my collection in a very short time. Thence north to this place is 5 or 6 miles more, the valley broader & hills lower & still more grassy with lots of new plants in admirable abundance.
We went to the Pass & into Thibet yesterday, the Saubah of Lachen my arch enemy the guide. he has made 100 rude apologies -- the Chinese had threatened would cut his head off &c. I answer that an English man always carries his point & that days weeks & months are all the same to me. He vows he will tell no more lies, -- not so much as that hiding all but the very tip of his little finger. That now we are friends he will shew[sic] me every--thing & I must visit his wife in his black Tent on the frontier. Now the tables are turned & the Bhotheas are as civil [in] communication & zealous in good offices as they were before

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hostile & impracticable.
The pass is about 10˚ North of this the road good -- we had Thibetan ponies of my feats on which, mounted a la Tartar, I must tell Bessy -- I walked mostly the whole way collecting lots of new plants of Thibet type -- Above this, the Lachen, which we followed is bounded by two stupendous mountains, but its bed is between flats & low stony or grassy hills that margin these -- A litle[sic] juniper & Rhododendron accompanies us a short way up, beyond which all is short turf & stones, marshy flats & rocky spaces. the vegetation scanty but very varied -- Thibetans come across the frontier in summer to feed their yaks living in black horse hair tents, we came across two I entered one & found nought but a fine Chinese looking girl a jolly laughing wench who presented me with a slice of curd. These people make butter all the summer, eating the curd with herbs milk & Fagopyrum bread, the richer only can afford to buy rice. -- they have 2 sorts of churns one a goat skin in which the cream is enclosed & beaten stamped on & rolled -- the other an oblong box, a yard long, full of upright Rhododendron twigs, beautifully frosted with butter but all alive with maggots. The tents are roomy & watertight

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though of so loose a texture as to be pervious to the wind & smoke. -- Some miles higher up we arrived at Peppin's (the Lachen Soubah's) tents & were most graciously received by his Squaw & family -- The whole party squatted in a ring inside the Tents the Singtam Soubah & myself at the head on a beautiful Chinese mat Queen Peppin then made tea (with salt & butter) we each produced our Bhottea cup which was always kept full -- Curd, parched rice & neat maize were liberally handed round & we fared sumptuously for I am very fond both of the tea & curd[.] The fire was of Juniper wood, the utensils of clay moulded at Digarchi, except the churn, of Bamboo, in which the Tea salt & butter are churned before boiling[.] Kinchin mean time was tied outside & in a state of chronic furor at a huge Bhothea dog & a most noble animal who longed to make a meal of my poor Argus. A Tremendous peal like Thunder all at once echoed down the glen the Bhotheas started up & said we must be off -- the mountains were falling & we should have rain -- we continued up the glen, 5 or 6 miles in thick fog the roar of the falling masses from Kinchin--jow on the right & Chomiomo on the left was literally awful for an hour I never heard any thing like--it but a terrible thunder--storm -- no fragment ever can possibly enter the valley by realm[?] of the

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hills flanking the valley river near whose bed we kept. Heavy rain soon fell & drenched us -- Gradually we ascended the valley widening & at 15000 ft we emerged on a broad flat table land or rather range after range of inescalating[?] flat stony terraces with a little herbage amongst which the Lachen meandered -- 500 ft higher & we were on the top of a long flat ridge connecting the N[orth] W[est] extreme of KInbhin--jow with Chomiomo & on this was the border mark, a cairn, Happily it cleared up here -- North the Plateau dipped by successive very low ridges overhung with the a canopy of the vapors that had delayed us --. East blue sky & low ridges of the lofty plateau which here backs the great range -- W[est] spurs of Chomiomo & much mist hid the horizon -- S[oth]E[ast]. Kinchin jow, a flat topped mass of snow 20 000 ft rose abruptly from low rocky cliffs & piles of debris, S[outh]. W[est]. Chomiomo, equally snowed & South between them the plateau into the funnel mouthed head of the Lachen valley -- Here after 3 months of obstacles I was at last at the back of the whole Himal range, at its most northern trend in the central Himalayah for this is far North of Kinchin--junga [Kanchenjunga] & Chomaloo or

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the Nipal [Nepal] passes I visited last winter & opens right onto to the Thibetan plateau without crossing a snowy ridge to be surrounded by other & other snowed spurs as Kanglachen & Wallanchoon do -- Here too I solved another great Problem -- there was not a particle of snow any where en route, right or left, or on the great Mts for 1500ft above my position -- The snow line in Sikkim lies on the Indian face of the Himal: range, at below 15000ft on the Thibetan at above 16000 -- I felt very pleased & made a rude Panorama sketch on 4 folio sheets, very rude you may suppose for the keen wind blew a gale & we were quite wet -- above 15000ft too I am a "gone coon" my head rings with acute headaches & feels as if bound in a vice my temples throb at every step & I retch with sea sickness -- Just above 15000 ft all the plants are new but the moment you reach the plateau 9/10ths disappear & bare earth, a Potentilla, Ranunculas, Morina, Cyananthus, a grass & Carex, are nearly all the plants one sees. -- There is no "Dama" (Carajana) nor shrubby Astragalus or Ulex in this part of Thibet as in the N[orth].W[est]. & Trichaurus which is found at 12--13000ft on the Indian approaches to Thibet did not reach to the top of the Pass. Still as I always [bottom line of text obscured]

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alpine Himalayan vegetation is to be soon replaced by Thibetan sterility, there is a sudden change in the flora & development of species not found further South, at equal altitudes in the Himal: For instance I gathered 10 Astragali in the last 5 miles & 8 Ranunculi, 6 Pedicularis several Fumarias & Potentillas -- all new to me & at between 14500 & 15500ft -- We made a fire of Yak droppings dried, blown up with a bellows of goat skin & Yak horn snout[.] My shivering Lepchas were numb & I gave them my cloak, going always well clad myself.-- I staid[sic] an hour & a half, so as to get good Barom[etric]. obs[ervations] & boiled--water too, but the latter I find ten times more troublesome than the Barometer. Returning the weather cleared up very fine & the views of the great Mts reared above rising perpendicularly above the grandest I have yet seen. For 6000ft they spring up perpendicularly & loom through the mist overhead their black wall like faces patched with ice & their table tops capped with a bed of green snow I am afraid to say how thick I guessed 2 or 300 ft in thickness -- South down the glen the Mts sunk to low hills, to rise again in the parallel of the great chain 20 miles south to the perpetual snow in rugged peaks. We staid[sic] a few

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minutes for Tea at Peppins tents & I took horse at dusk for alas I am quite blind in the dark. -- the mulish stubborn intractable unshod Tartan pony never missed a foot sharp rocks, deep strong torrents, slippery patches, pitch dark, were all the same to him. Except in action they are sorry looking beasts, but the Singtam Soubah full 16 stone weight, rode his the whole 30 miles of rocks, stones, streams & mountains & except to stop & shake themselves like a dog with a violence that nearly unhorsed me they shew[sic] no signs of tiring. I should like to stay here some time but cannot get food up the road between this & Choongtam is so bad that [1 word crossed out, illeg.] The coolies can carry little more than their own food & blanket. The unlucky Singtam Soubah is in an agony to be gone, & as I shall go from Choongtam to the Lachong pass not 12 miles East of this Pass I shall get probably the same plants there, but that is a Pass I fear 19000ft high (woe's me for my head & stomach) & does not debouche on, but descends to this same plateau 10 or 12 E[ast] of Kongra Lama. & of Kinchin jow -- The road from Choongtam is good -- Fever rages below Chres on to Dorjiling. My people behave admirably well I have not a single complaint but it is very hard to see a poor lad come in his load left behind staggering with fever caught by sleeping in the valleys below Dorjiling, eyes sunk, temples throbbing pulse at a 180 120

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& cannot muster the merry smile with which the poor souls always greet me. Generally I have no difficulty in getting them round with Quinine & Calomel in this region -- Here of course & for two marches below Choongtam there is no danger & with a littler exertion the people might avoid risk, but though I warn every one on starting & so does Campbell on their return to me, they are too careless to heed & will sleep in the most pestilentious holes in Sikkim & where I would not on any consideration. As for me my work is not half finished, my Botany I mean, though I am collecting & drying from morning to night & doing little else but Botany day by day -- We have very little rain here but much mist & I have great difficulty keeping my plants in order, happily they are small. I do not expect to return to Dorjiling till September or october & perhaps not then so you need not be alarmed about Fevers for I shall not be below 6000ft -- Indeed I have not been below 10000 this 2 months -- This is a hard but most healthy life & I do not know what a lonely hour is though I have not a soul to speak to. I am writing to Bentham about plants & have so much scribbling I do grudge repetition -- labelling plants & writing up my journal are no trifles here & I assure you I am always at work. It is a long time since I have heard from you but this is an awful way long *2 from Dorjiling -- often 20 days for my post to reach me---- I shall stay here a few days & then descend leisurely to Choongtam Ever your most aff[ectiona]te son | Jos D Hooker [signature]

ENDNOTES


1. Latin expression meaning 'from behind'.
2. Text from here is written vertically along the margin of page 9.

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