PS My dear Mother I have just heard from the Surv.[eyor] General's office that the height of Calcutta[Kolkata] is only 18ft. above the sea. The measurements of elevation in my journal are therefore all too high. will you kindly subtract 200 feet from all themeasured heights above the Sea I have given in my journal? As it is they are only approximate but 200 ft. is too great an error to pass. I have been six months wanting to know the elev[ation] of Calcutta[Kolkata] &had to approximate it from Reports 220 ft. I should like in the commencement of the journal to express my obligation to Hodgson*1 for the means of getting the letter & journal up and completed by insertion of some such [illeg.] leading letter as this. Sikkim, Himalaya Darjeeling July 24th 1848[?] My dear Father I now send you[ materials for a [connecting ?]into a journal, the materials [ a more connected journal 1 illegible word] [?] my previous letters will afford There must be many errors throughout it: but as they are only letters & to friends such you might expected, though perhaps a smaller numbers

should have crept in. For what completion these have attained to I am most extensively indebted to my present host, Mr Hodgson*1 (& his ample library), who places all his vast stores of knowledge both practical & theoretical at my disposal quite unreservedly & who is the best authority on Indian Geography Ethnography & Zoology Ever Your affectionate son | J D Hooker[signature]