DARJEELING, June 10th,1848
My dearest Mother, I have now many letters to thank you for, all of which have reached me safely and punctually. Two, indeed, arrived in the same week, (though posted at the regular fortnightly interval) owing to some unusually rapid passage of the steamer. I now address you from the house of B. H. Hodgson*1 Esqre , a very nice place and belonging to one of the most liberal of people, a man too of great attainments and accomplishments. He was Political Resident at Nepaul[Nepal] for many years, and lived like a prince at the Nepalese Court. From this position he was forced by Lord Ellenborough*2, in one of that nobleman's absurd fits of determination to undo everything, good or bad, which Lord Auckland*3 had done. Hodgson not only resigned his appointment, but threw up also his Commission in the E.I.C. [East India Company]Service. and in disgust went home for redress, when he was assured by the Court of Directors, that, if he had retained his Commission, they would have replaced him at Nepaul[Nepal]! Hodgson, thus flung upon the world, with but a scanty pension, (for he had not saved a shilling of his enormous salary), retired hither, where he lives in seclusion, pursuing his Zoological and Ethnological studies. "The Hodgson Collection" at the British Museum was entirely formed by him &(and) at a monstrous expense.

My prospects of visiting the snowy Passes are somewhat faint. The Sikkim Rajah, whose territories were once the prey of the Nepalese, was replaced on his throne by us, who thus keep the warlike Gourkas from over-running Bootan [Bhutan?]; unluckily we did not demand even a nominal tribute from the Rajah, who at once

fell under the influence of China, whose policy it is to rule the Councils, but not the people, of these three Border powers; and by teaching them a wholesome dread of the English, they exclude the latter from these several States and prevent our interfering with the Chinese Trade from the East into Thibet[Tibet]. Darjeeling is a narrow slip of land, running North into the heart of Sikkim, about halfway to the snow. It was bought from the Rajah to be a Sanatorium for sick Europeans, (as Simla[Shimla]*4, Mussoorie*5, Ninee-Tal[Nainital]*6, Almorah[Almora],*7 etc, etc.). We paid 3,000 rupees for the freehold, stipulating also that merchants should have a right to trade to Sikkim, but made no agreement of the sort for travellers, surveyors, or any other class of people, whom the saucy Rajah excludes from his kingdom. Had we acted with either vigour or policy, we might still have retained our power over the Rajah; but I look upon the conduct of the local Government at Calcutta[Kolkata], and the Political Resident here, as eminently weak and prejudicial to the country's interest. The Rajah, who has not a soldier to his name, refused to allow the Surveyor General (a man whose Indian power and appointments would astonish an Englishman) to visit a mountain 20 miles from hence, and not only the Surveyor General but the Government who applied for him, only granting it when Col. Waugh*8, disgusted with both the Rajah and Government, went, (as I did a few days ago) without the permission of either.

I have explained all this to Lord Dalhousie*9 and asked him to send me to the snow, whether the Rajah likes or not; offering to be the means of making any overtures to that Prince, which may render my mission less unacceptable than the appearance of any Feringhi*10 must be. Dr. Campbell,*11 the Political Resident, recommended that the Rajah should be asked, knowing, as does Lord Dalhousie, that, though the Rajah dares not refuse, he does dare to withhold an answer, and thus place our Government in the dilemma of either tolerating an insult or sending me with an armed force. Such is the Rajah's dread of the English, that he declined receiving an Ambassador, laden with English presents; and when the hot-headed Colonel Lloyd *12(who bargained for Darjeeling) hunted him like a hare to conclude the arrangement in person, he would only meet him with a river between. In pushing my own way there is nothing to apprehend but the lack of provisions; the Rajah is too weak to put a traveller in confinement as China does, and too much afraid of England; but he can withhold supplies and intimidate your attendants. For these reasons my wanderings have been hitherto only to such distances, as I could carry provender for myself and men, and through the least inhabited parts. Towards the snow, the country is more populous, the convents, nunneries and villages are numerous (though small), and the people (Bootx eas)

are a disagreeable and morose race, immigrants from the East into Sikkim. What Lord Dalhousie may do I know not. Elliott*13, the Secretary to Government, proposes the using "douce violence" with the Rajah, and insisting that he shall behave like a friendly power, but this view cannot be supported in Council. My own conviction is that, if the Rajah allowed me to visit the snowy Passes, China would punish him, not openly, but indirectly, and the only profitable part of his revenue is derived from Darjeeling (which did not yield him 200 rupees when we brought it), and a property called Chumbia in Thibet [Tibet], which he rents from China, and which is a fruitful place yielding Turnips, Radishes and Pine-wood! To proceed with Oriental crooked policy, Sir Herbert Maddock*14, Governor of Bengal during Lord Hardinge's*15 absence, in a fit of spleen, assumed that the rent which the Rajah received for Darjeeling, 3,000 rupees, was too little. He attacked Dr. Campbell, the Political Resident, for allowing the poor Prince to be so shabbily treated by England, voted the 3,000 to be doubled, without any sufficient reason, and did this without even stipulating that the Rajah shall behave more civilly to Europeans. Dr. Campbell, [(who should have refused to comply, and who ought also to have remonstrated with the Board of Directors at home)], took it all civilly, doubled the Rajah's income, and thus lost a fulcrum, by which the Himalayah[sic] might have been moved to within our reach. By this conduct we have impressed

Major Jenkins *16 writes to me from Assam pressing my visit to that country and assuring me of the practicability of reaching the snow in Bootan[Bhutan], or, at all events, by the Mishmee[Mishmi} Hills*17, in Upper Assam. The latter is feasible but not the former, the Bootveas being as jealous as the Sikkim Rajah; and with them, and with Nepaul[Nepal], we have no right to interfere. To the Mishmees, being little beyond the Tea districts, I shall surely probablygo, with the objects of visiting the Tea districts, obtaining complete collections of the vegetable products, and arms and implements of the tribes inhabiting those hills, reaching the snowy Passes, if possible, and ascertaining the course of the Burrampooter [Brahmaputra?] *18, whether that river be the Thibetan[Tibetan] "Tsampo" or not. To the North West I can always proceed through Lower Thibet[Tibet]; but that country has already been well explored by Thomson,*19 so that I do not intend going further in that direction than Kumaoon*20 [Kumaon], where

the new Tea plantations under the care of Jameson *21are, and where I shall meet Thomson next year, and with him ascend the Niti Pass, and then enter Thibet[Tibet] towards the position of the Mansarowa[Mansarova?] Lake*22, which is probably the loftiest tableland in our Globe. That I shall do this is the more likely from the necessity of quitting Assam in March or April, when it becomes unhealthy, and from my desire to see Thomson and the Tea plantations in Kumaoon[Kumaon], which are making a great noise. The Chinese Mission is broken up; Capt. Cunningham*23 is recalled; Strachey*24 is in Thibet[Tibet], no one knows where; and Thomson is allowed to prosecute his researches for another year. I am very glad of the latter arrangement, and I wrote to that effect to Sir Fred. Currie*25, who is therefore, I see, taking an interest in him. By the last, a previous mail, I sent home Tom's[Thomas Thomson?] last letter to me, that it might be inserted in the London Journal of Botany; and I shall do the same with any future ones. I am grieved to tell you that Falconer*27 is very ill in Calcutta[Kolkata], having been obliged to come up to the city for advice and treatment. He wrote to me by an amanuensis, regretting that he could not forward the Niger Flora by that mail. It will go by the next, with the continuation down to those orders intervening between Rhamneae[Rhamnaceae?] and Leguminoseae[Leguminosae], of which I sent a sketch for Planchon*26 to work out. I am copying the Leguminosae as fast as I can.

Please to tell my Father that Dr. Falconer forwarded the acceptable packet to me, up here, free of postage. I cannot say how delighted I am with it! Bennett*28 has printed Galapagos very carefully - many thanks to him. Hodgson is delighted with the Kew Guide. Lindley's*29 book fell open, oddly enough, at the very page I most wanted to see, namely, the description of the order Helwingia*30 of which I was sure I had a second species. Lindley's book is invaluable, none can be so useful for a traveller; but the location of the natural orders seems to me very defective. How so clear a headed man can have allowed Analogy to guide him, instead of Affinity, seems to me rather strange. I have again found Balanophora*31 at an elevation of 8,000 ft. To-morrow three loads of living plants go down to Calcutta[Kolkata] for Kew. They consist of, Rhododendrons, Palms, Arums, Magnolias, and very many other fine things; but all successdepends on the weather they must encounter in passing through the plains below. We have been extremely distressed at the death of poor Frederick Drummond,*32whom I met in Purneah[Purnia] District on my way up to the mountains. He and his party were kindly anxious that I should join them, they Tiger shooting and I to botanize; this was in April. I declined because the season was unhealthy and I was anxious to reach Darjeeling. Well! seven of their servants died in one day of cholera; and four days after his

return, Drummond was seized with the Jungle fever, which carried him off in as many days more. He was a fine fellow and deservedly a favourite with everybody. We (Mr. Barnes*33 and I) had just been inviting him to come and stay with us at Darjeeling, which he would have done, had his life been spared. He is a son of Lord Stratheden, a Scottish nobleman of small property, who has many sons in India. The post has just arrived, bringing letters from yourself, my father, Frances*34 and Lise*35, and Eliz. Rigby*36. The pleasure of their receipt is much dashed by the enclosure from Calcutta[Kolkata]. It is written by one of the men at the Garden, and it tells me that Falconer is very ill and suffering much. If he be taken away I shall not know what to do about my living plants, which must be opened and re-packed at Calcutta. I have written to ask Gurney*37 to see Dr. Falconer, and also to do some small commissions for me. My father begins, naturally, with the Niger Flora; and I only wish the six weeks were already over, which will place the first part in his hands. I am extremely busy with my collections, drawings and MSS. - now getting up sketches of Rhododendrons and a good journal for the Journal of Botany - then preparing a Carte Géognostique of the vegetation of this place from the plains to 10,000 ft (like Humboldt's of Chimborazo*38), and again copying out the Leguminosae of the Niger Flora. I

can offer no excuse for my delay of the latter, and I only wish that throwing myself on my father's mercy, would do any good in speeding the MS. into his hands. I trust by this mail to supply his pressing desideratum - the Ceylon Notes - and, in order to proceed with my work, I break off this letter "sans cérémonie". I am making notes on the Agriculture of the Himalaya for Prof.Henslow,*39 and will send them in the rough. Best love from your most affectionate son, | JOS. D. HOOKER.