Transcript
I am glad you mention the Shikari*4 I assure you they having to send them back has caused me great uneasiness whether you might think me selfish for doing so, or still more for not looking after their outfits or that I was timorous about them. Buchuss[?] is the only one who would have stood the cold, fatigue & had he got up Wallanchoon I would have had him on with us, but then he knocked up1/3 way up the pass. At his own request the Danjah[?] staid behind & the other man was nothing loth to do so too. Their behaviour was in all respects excellent & they must have suffered a good deal before I knew of their condition. then there was but one pair of worn out shoes (Bo)[?] to the whole party - but to cut a long story short, they are fit only for the hot jungles, bare headed bare legged & loosely clad. I gave a pair of socks & flannells[?] to easement [?]
them, whether they were any use or no, I know not; probably he took them for some of the coolies amongst whom I had to give shoes & socks for budge without the brutes would not. I clothed both Havild[ar] & Sepa in woollens & gave lent my blanket besides to the H[avildar]. The Lepchas too I had to clothe - all this owing to the Hav[ildar] assuring me that I could buy everything cheap & good at Wallanchoon & persuading me to let good cheap purchases of boots & blankets slip by. I consequently had not boots for myself. I fear that the H[avildar]. is a slippery fellow & wanted this money to spend on himself. both he & his Sepa had been to Wallanchoon & ought to have known or made proper enquiries about it. When I left it I didn't expect to get my men over the passes.
It will take good 4 days to reach Jongri from here. Campbells*5 jo route is excellent the whole way to Yangma but only in the marches being furiously
long, some of them three of mine, that is 2 of ordinary laden coolies. If in tme please send me a dozen cigars out of the box if not used up. Again thank you much for your sedulous attention. I will write again anon. If in time please send me a dozen cigars out of the box if not used up. Again thank you much for your sedulous attention. I will write again anon. Ever yours affectionately|JosDHooker [signature] P[word illeg] will get good coolies his lads both at Tinglo & Teesta were very well behaved. Pray send Buchass etc any you think proper. I send you a pheasant I skinned on the Nango pass it is preserved with pepper only. Confound these coolies now I want to get rid of them they want to stay I give them a maledictory dismissal.*6
1 Brian Houghton Hodgson (1801—1894). A pioneer naturalist and ethnologist working in India and Nepal where he was a British civil servant. Joseph Hooker stayed at Hodgson’s house in Darjeeling periodically during his expedition to India and the Himalayas, 1847—1851. He named one of his sons after him & they remained lifelong friends.
2The Muller brothers, one of whom ran an opium factory in Patna were interested in science and S assisted Hooker with the maintenance of various instruments and processing his observations. v Life and Letters of Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker. Huxley, L. London. 1918. vol 1. p.249.
3 An official messenger.
4 Hunters: the word derived from Persian via Urdu was used in the 19th century.
5 Dr Archibald Campbell or Dr Arthur Campbell (1805--1874). First superintendent of Darjeeling, India under British rule, an East India Company representative. Former assistant to Brian Hodgson during his time as British Resident in Kathmandu and a great friend of Joseph Hooker. Hooker & Campbell travelled together in Sikkim in 1849 and both were briefly imprisoned by the Rajah of Sikkim. His first name has been subject to debate.
6 This paragraph is written at right angles to the main text; the folio was then folded so the bottom edge became the top edge; the letter was addressed to ‘H.K. Hodgson Esq’ over the note.
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