[[1]]
Darjeeling
October 13 1848
My dear Darwin
I have been very remiss in my duties to many old friends, & to yourself & still more
especially to Lyell amongst the number; but the very rich Flora of this place has kept
me busy & Hodgson is so complete a Himalayan Naturalist that I have paid little
other attention to Zoology than bottling beetles & applying to my host for information
on all other branches. Answers to your Queries shall be forthcoming in this letter I
hope. Old Falconer has been ill again, with Fever this time, but is recovering; the
medicos say that he is more frightened than ill & I suppose the long & short of it is
that he takes no more care of himself here than at home. His Lecture duties too
press hard upon him, & these in the hot season are no trifling matters. I cannot hear
that he is doing any thing in Science, I fear nothing, but pray say as little about this
as may be, to any but Lyell & very intimates: it is plain that he is giving way to his old
habits; for attentive as he is to all my requirements & these are legion, I scarce ever
get a line from him. Our correspondence which commenced briskly is dropping very
fast on his part, not even one line accompanying my monthly batch of English letters;
& your's to me, sent him for perusal, I cannot get back. Strange to say he got into the
hands of some snobs as soon as he landed in Calcutta *1 & gave great offence at the
Asiatic Society, especially
[[2]] to Colvile the president, one of the most gentlemanly good men in India, making
a prodigious fuss about trifles & uttering a long speech in broadest Scotch; which,
whether for accent, manner or matter, kept the society in roars of laughter, to the no
small scandal of science. Hodgson, Colevile & myself were much distressed & I
wrote him a most urgent letter, pointing out what was expected of him so anxiously
previous to his arrival, & what a turbulent vulgar clique he had joined. Like a good
fellow as he is, he took nought amiss & Colvile afterwards wrote me that they had
made it up. What could have come over him I cannot tell, but the disappointment of
all real lovers of Science amounted to disgust. Since then I do not see that he has
taken any part whatever in the As[iatic]. Soc[iety]. which wanted grievously a man of
his attainments & position & does so still. The E[ast].I[ndia].C[omapny]. have I
believe granted him his Europ[e]. time as service which is very right & he is said to be
trying further to get his full medical fund pension. The latter proceeding is considered
not fair as the retiring P[ension]. is not a Govt affair (only sanctioned by Govt) & the
calculations on which it is based refer to duration of life as regulated by Indian
Service, which are seriously deranged by such demands being conceded, & is an
injustice to those who have thus to serve longer & pay more than he does. I am sorry
to have to say all this of a mutual friend so dear to us both, but it is no secret in India
& you will perhaps hear plenty of it at home & desire to know the truth of the matter.
The Rains which have kept me a close prisoner for 4 months are hardly over, in the
mean time I have kept a party of 10 to 20 collectors in all parts
[[3]] of the hills, selecting certain tribes indifferent to fever for the valleys & Terai, &
have thus obtained a very large herbarium, carefully ticketed[sic] as to elevation &c.
receiving all the plants alive & drying them here. The damp climate has been much
against me, but the advantage I have enjoyed in Hodgson's large house servants &
counsel are incalculable. We live together like brothers his very indifferent health
requiring a little medical advice -- Whether for the richness of the Flora, its novelty,
the site of Dorjeeling [Darjeeling] for studying its distribution, & above all for the aid &
information I obtain from H[odgson]. this is certainly the best spot in all India for me.
As yet the Flora of above 10,000 ft is unknown to me, the Sub Himal. only reaching
that Elevat[ion].. Hitherto no one has reached the Snows E[ast]. of Kermaon i.e any
where between Western Nepaul [Nepal] & the extreme Eastern Himalayah & as the
upper or 3d Bot[anical]. region commences at 10,000 ft in this Meridian I must do so
to complete a transverse section of the range. Ld Dalhousie addressed a strong
letter to the Sikkim Rajah to allow of my doing so from this & I daily expect a refusal
or acquiescence. The Nepaul Govt: which I addressed through the Pol[itical].
Resid[ent]. at Cathmandu [Kathmandu] & who have hitherto refused leave to any
Englishman to visit any other part of Nepal but the road to Cathmandu, have just
sent me permission to pass from Sikkim into Nepaul, where a guard of Soldiers will
meet & conduct me to the Thibet passes! 5 or 6 marches take me to the Snows of
Kinchinjunga [Kanchenjunga] (28178 ft.) where the guard is to meet me at the
N[orth].W[est]. corner of Sikkim; but the Sikkim Rajah hesitates allowing me to pass
through his territories. The Polit[ical]. Resid[ent]. here stands a good friend
[[4]] & threatens in case of refusal to retain the lease money we pay for this
Sanatarium & attach a valuable property of the Rajah's in the plains, in which Ld
Dalhousie will I know concur: but whether this will bring induce gain consent from a timid
barbarian, more Chinese than Indian, though a protected ally of our's, is doubtful. I
am all ready for a start as soon as the rains are over -- I forgot to ask my mother to
forward you a letter explaining this complicated affair more fully, but if you forward
the enclosed to Kew she will send it you. Should I accomplish this cruise I shall be
happy. In December the Terai is perfectly healthy & I shall explore that district, I
hope with Hodgson, & then hurrah for a transverse section of the Himal. from the
Snow to the plains, in this central position, with rocks plants & climate & the zoology
by Hodgson, projected on a chart -- I am however counting my chickens before they
are hatched, so pray say little about this. My materials for the central region -- 4-10,000 ft are very complete having already upwards of 2000 species of plants &
defined the limits of the important Nat[ural]. Orders on both slopes of the Mts, during
the many excursions I made in April & May: there are many more species to add, but
these will not I think affect general results much. The Geology of this region is cruelly
same as far as my poor judgement guess goes mica slate & garnets, Gneiss & Clay
slate being familiar enough to a Scotchman. The rocks all so shattered & contorted
that there is certainly no continuous solid nucleus to these mountains -- isolated
masses alone crop out any where, there is neither a precipice nor plain any where -Uniform steep slopes of 4--8000 ft on all sides of every mountain, combined with the
extraordinary
[[5]] multitude of these, the utter absence of any system amongst them, the
contortion & unduplication of the strata & the quaqua versality of the dip every few
yards, appear to my unaided judgement to denote that the Mts are made up of
shattered masses upheaved without order. Such a pile of broken masses could
alone I think retain the stratum of soil which supports the forest. The latter is
uninterrupted from the lowest valleys up to & over all Mts of 11--12000 ft. I assure
you that all over the faces of the hundred Mts & spurs which rise in a confused mass
between this & the true Snowy Mts there is not one acre (except artificial clearings)
free of forest, save an occasional land slip which exposes a mass of broken rocks as
nucleus. The rocks certainly pass from clay slate in the hot valleys at the
N[orth]. base of this, into hornblende schists & Gneiss above, these lower rocks
6000 ft below, are more regularly disposed, still always with a tremendous dip--on
the plainward bases the mica schists are very micaceous & full of garnets, dip away
from the plains & are overlain by vast masses of gravelly detritus partly I think due to
the destruction of the Red--sandstone rocks, which usually flank the subHimalayah,
but are not apparent here. There are no evidences whatever of glacial or diluvial
action even, of terraces, water levels or ancient lakes in this elevated part of the
range, that I have seen. I staid was detained a few days in the Terai coming up & think I
have full evidence of terraces there at 1000 ft, flanking the plains, but the place was
very unhealthy & the heat & rains so bad that I phunked staying longer, as I should
have the opportunity of examining it in the healthy season.
The soil here is a stiff clay from the decomp[osition]. of Gneiss & Felspar, much of
which is crumbly, it contains 30 percent of alumina, & only 5 of organic i.e vegetable matter:
above it is a defined layer of vegetable mould, 12 inches or so, containing 9 pc of
alumina & nearly 30 of organic matter! -- no phosphates or traces of animal organic,
or of Lime or Potash a little Soda, Muriatic Acid -- Would any one believe that the steep hill
faces should retain so uniform a coating of this unmineralized coal, that the
vegetable matter should not penetrate deeper, & that the definition of the super from
the sub soil is so clear as I always find it. In Geological prate (I will have a fling at
you, even from the ends of the earth old friend) the 10,000 ft perpendic[ular]. of
forests, flanking valleys of exceeding steepness should produce vast beds of
vegetable matter in the bottoms of such valleys, but there is as little evidence of a
detrital coal being forming here, as there is unexpected proof of a layer,
extraordinarily rich in organic matter, retaining its position on steep hills. Again, in the
richest Terai forest soil; a rank, dank, fevery, & eminently vegetable mould, I find
only 11. percent of organic matter; though there is every apparent element for the
production, & better position (gentle slopes) for the retention of the organic matter-May not heat produce dissipation of the latter?-- I am too ignorant of Chemistry to
judge. The analyses are good, made for me by a Mr Muller here, from whom I get
great assistance, & I am examining other soils. I have still to observe Geology
properly
[[6]] the above are rude remarks, wanting in precision -- Why glaciers were denied to
the Himal. I cannot conceive, nor any one else, there are plenty, along the higher
ranges, which, the unSnowed Sub. Himal. flanks: but all Himal Snowy Mts are so
abrupt on their S[outh]. faces, that such glaciers are not produced far meridionally
They interfere much with the definition of the Snow line E.G. the Glacier source of
Gangetic is at only 12000 ft I believe; the P[erpetual].S[now]. being properly at 14 or
15000.-- I think I see from this a very grand inaccessable glacier on Kinchin about
45 miles off occupying a profound chasm valley, with a perp[etual]. Southward face
of ice -- & torrents from below it. Here the snowy Mts are totally distinct from the Sub.
Himal. & throughout the range the former (except N[orth] W[est]) seldom project
Snowy spurs into the Sub-Himal. I expect Kinchin is a granite Mt: protruded through
the Gneiss &c, though some of its lower pinnacles look slaty & sharp, but I am
convinced one cannot guess at formations by outline. The sudden transition from the
belt of Sub Himal. which is some 40 miles broad & all whose hills rise to 8–12000 (in
many series) to the continuous range of snowy peaks they flank; many of which rise
22, some 24, & a few 28000 ft indicates a geological phenomenon. The conflicting
accounts of the Himal. arise from our studying solely the N[orth].W[est]. corner of it,
where the whole range is broader, more confused, Snowy peaks occurring amongst
the SubHimal & the transition from the plains of India to those of Thibet undefineable
with precision. A proper understanding of any one part E[ast]. of Kemaon would
solve many of the difficulties attending the exam[ination]. of the N[orth].W[est]. but as
I said before no one has hitherto had permission to do this, & he that now has is
miserably unfitted for the Task. It is not false modesty my saying I am timid about it; I
have no reason to fear the cold the natives or exposure, but such problems to be
entrusted to my unaided powers of observation give me many an anxious hour, so
much so that I avoid giving any publicity to my prospective attempts. It is getting late
in the season & still raining cats & dogs: the Sikkim Rajah fancies I want to
appropriate his villainous country, & has promised me expulsion if I attempt to pass
through Sikkim. Repulsion will be a bitter mortification -- Enough of this however -"Spero meliora"-I have been pumping Hodgson for you; & he has given me for you a set of his
Zoological pamphlets which I will send to my Father for you: he particularly wishes you
to shew[sic] them to Waterhouse & that the latter would consult the drawings of
Nipalese [Nepalese] animals sent by Hodgson & deposited in the Brit[ish]. Mus[eum].
Please do this message for me. You would find H[odgson]. a first rate prompt
correspondent so pray write to him, The following answers to your queries are all His
not mine, they were all news to me, on their authenticity you may rely.-- 1. The
climate of India in general & of the Himal at 4--10,000 ft is prejudicial to European
seedlings, from excessive rains, especially in the latter regions -- 2 The whole race
of Europ[e]. vegetables, though they thrive admirably, will not propagate, The
tendency in all is to loose reproductive power in the plains & more markedly in the
hills (some notes I am sending my father on effects of climate on Fruit--trees in hills
& plains will explain this).-- 3. The Tea plant grows admirably at Cathmandu,
4500 ft., & seeds well, but seeds though plump & good seldom grow. 4. The Junma
large goat, has been introduced into the temperate region of the Himal. (4-10,000 ft.) lives well, gestates well, but young either
[[7]] prematurely cast, or die (though well cast & healthy otherwise) of congenital
goitre. 5. AD. 1842. A spotted ♀ Axis (Axis medius, Hodgs) bred with a ♂ Juraol
(Hemitragus quadri-mammis) a beast almost more goat than deer. Progeny fine &
healthy, more of ♀ -- subsequent history unknown -- but will enquire; this occurred at
the Residency Garden Cathmandu, just before Hodgson left who will make enquiry
about it. 6. The Yak (a domestic Bison) confined to the snows, breeds freely with the
humped buffalo domestic of the plains (Bos); & the breed is much more valuable than
either parent, & called Zobo --it is in all respects intermediate, -- more tractable than
Yak, less so than Bos,-- bears heat better than Yak cold worse; -- heat worse than
Bos, cold better.-- true cross (always fertile) breeds freely with cross, & no degeneration -cross breeds equally freely with either parent, but this is not sought, the perpetuation
of the cross by total separation of this from either parent being the object. -- 7. In
these mountains the domestic fowl is much more like the original jungle cock (possibly
from intermixing) than the fowls of the plains are. The domestic will always breed
with the Chittagong (itself a domestic race of species unknown) Hodgson has
repeatedly had the eggs of the wild jungle fowl brought him, & hatched the chicks,
but they never live. -- in short we cannot reoriginate the domestic breed -- Jackall,
tame dog & Fox of India have all crossed. Wild dog (Kuon primævus) said also to
have crossed with tame Dog, but H[odgson]. is doubtful about this; see India
Sporting Review for 1847, or 8, for only authority. 8 -- a large deer ♀ Rusa
hippelaphus in the Residency Garden at Cathmandu incessantly repeatedly induced the
Brahminee bulls to cover it effectually in the rutting season, this was its constant
practice -- no breed produce of course. 9. The Tussa silk moth Phalæna cynthia (“Indi”
of the natives of base of these mts. “Eria” of Assamese, both from Reindi the caster
oil plant) is only known in domestic state, & always fed on Ricinus leaves -- common
all along bases of hills, never above 4000 ft probably not above 2000, from Kemaon
to Brahmaputra. Moths always fly like fun & the Mechis we are now questioning say
they must be restrained at once. The wild one (P. mylitta) is equally abundant, but
never domesticated, feeds on Sal (Shorea robusta) Terminalia, Zizyphi, Bombax &
probably many other things. The tame too will take many other foods equally with
Castor leaves -- Only one var of domestic species is known to the natives of these parts &
except as hereditary bonds--moths I can yet get no facts on the hereditary rights or
wrongs (of the domestic species). See As. Soc. Journal V. 6: p. 32 - 10th A notorious
Capt. C. was shot in the glutæus maximus in a duel, (time unknown possibly
immediately before impregnation of mother but I can make out easily), he died
afterwards of another complaint altogether, but the posthumous child, (his 3d child) a
fine boy, has a deep impression on the analogous place, into which H[odsgson]. has
put his finger end 50 times. As the mother gestated at intervals of 2 years it is
probable that the wound was received by the father after the birth of the 2 previous
children who had no scar. You'll snub this you wretch if you can I know.
[[8]] I must close in haste -- I fear this will cost you more postage than it is worth.
Best sincere regards to Mrs Darwin, Mr & Mrs Wedgewood particularly; to Westwood
& Forbes, but above all to Lyells & promises to write when I can speak more
definitely on the Bot Geology of this place. I never was in better health in my life -- love
to the Bairns. Write 2 lines to Hodgson & thank him for his paternal care & liberality
to me -- Tell Horners, Owen, Bell & all that I salute them most respectfully &
sincerely -- & Believe me old Darwin with earnest hopes for your better health
Yr affectionate friend | Jos D Hooker [signature]
You have gratified Frances recently & myself of course by writing to her.
Coal paper
Paid Calcutta Bombay *2 | Chas Darwin Eqr | Down| Bromeley | Kent | England | via
Marseilles | J.D Hooker *3
ENDNOTES
1. The city formerly known as Calcutta is now called Kolkata.
2. The city formerly known as Bombay is now called Mumbai.
3. The address of the letter recipient appears here as the letter would originally have
been folded in such a way that it formed its own envelope.
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