[[1]] *1
Extract from Dr. Hooker's letter to Miss Henslow
Camp, Sikkim, Himalayah, May 5th 1849.
X X X X X I have now been 3 days from Darjeeling, & am getting on very well- the
men behave properly; & the people en route are kind and civil. I have just been
accosted by an enormously fat Lama, with a grand present of eggs, &c. The
kindness of these simple mountaineers is very grateful; & their civil speeches quite
graceful:-- they hope you will not fall ill, are sorry their roads are so poor,-apologize for not bringing fowls (the priests say this) because they must cannot take
life.-- say they will hear of your progress in safety, with pleasure, and hope to see
you en route home again, to stay with them. A small joke convulses them with
laughter; & the expected "back--sheesh" is always received with many thanks.
I have got a much larger travelling camp than I expected, 42 in all, which are thus
arranged.-- There is myself & servant--a head man of the Coolies. & two others
(Sidars), who attend on me & carry small things,-- as gun, compass--stand,
botanizing box, bag, telescope and all these affairs;- a Bhotea interpreter, who has
charge of all the food; a Havildar (or corporal) with 4 Sepas, 3 shooters & bird
stuffers of Mr. Hodgson’s. The next are carriers, alias Coolies-- 5 for the guard, 3
for the shooters, 3 for the Sidars, 5 for the men’s food,-- 1 carries the tent; 1 bed; 1
clothes; 3 carry my food & cooking apparatus; & several are laden with paper &c.
&c. all seem cheerful & good men; & except the Rajah should raise any difficulty,
there is no fear of anything; if he does it will be in the way of stopping or frightening
the men; and they are such dreadful cowards that I do believe they would (all but
the Sepas, & one or 2 others) run like wildfire, if they were only to hear that the
Rajah did not wish me to proceed. of the Rajah’s intentions I am still
[[2]] doubtful; he sent me a full permission, but no guide or guard, & only this
morning a dirty little functionary has been to me to say, that he has no orders to let
me pass, & that I must wait 2 days till he hears from the Rajah. As it is no use
getting angry, I have answered, that, having the Rajah’s own permission, I shall
not stop until the Rajah himself recalls it, that I shall therefore proceed forthwith; &
that the Rajah’s considering him too insignificant to inform of his own will, or of my
movements, is no affair of mine--: now he changes his tone, saying he is very
sorry he did not know of my coming, that he might have mended the roads, for
which he wishes me to wait the 2 days! -- so these trumpery functionaries lie,
cheat, & obstruct; & nothing but patience & cool contempt puts them down:-- the
moment I gather the contents of their long speeches by the preface, I cut them
short with an answer which does not Suit Bhothea idioms & fashions.
Since writing the above; the Teheba Lama is come to pay his respects,: he is
deputed from the Rajah, as agent to Darjeeling. I knew him on the Teesta, as the
minister to the Rajah’s son, & as the only man of the Rajah’s who could speak
Hindustani. He like all the Lamas is a good little creature; but hearing of the
Rajah’s obstruction I was bound to receive him coolly; however I was very civil,
met him at the tent--door, took him in, & asked why that Rajah had not sent me a
guide, but left me to be insulted by such people as the little functionary I have told
you of.-- he answers that the Rajah had written a request for me to delay coming
on account of his son’s death, & that the said letter was taken by the Lassoo Kaji,
who, being properly disgraced by Campbell, had not delivered it. Now as the Rajah
had not spoken to his son for 16 years, I doubt his sorrow;-- the period of mourning
is over anyhow;-- and as I told the Lama, it was all one to me; if Rajah, son and
family were to die together,-- that was no reason why I should not travel through
his country. He promptly apologized for his Rajah, & wrote an order (of what use
the sequel will show,) that I was to pass on unmolested, till I
[[3]] met a guide from the Rajah. This will take me 3 marches, I expect, when I
shall meet with another request, to stop till the said guide appears, when I shall
answer that the guide can overtake me; & go on, and this will bring him fast
enough. This shews[sic] the nature of Sikkim obstructions, after leave is granted; &
all my care is to keep my timid coolies from being alarmed. X X X
ENDNOTES
1. This letter is a copy, written in a hand not that of the original author, JDH, and it
is unsigned. The copy was probably made by JDH's mother or sister.
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