[[1]] *1
Darjeeling, Feb. 1 1849
My dear mother
I have just finished two long letters to my father & have got plenty to say to him;
but now I write to you, because I think you will like to see your own name on this
sheet; though I cannot discuss personal matters so fully as I should desire. Your
last account of my dear sister dated Dec 3d-- is most cheering. I hope & prey that
the new treatment may prove successful, & I confidently expect it will; for it falls in
with my own opinion of her case. I will thank you to say this, with my kind love, to
dear Elizabeth.
The news of the fearful battle in the N[orth]. West has just reached us but with no
particulars of the fighting, nor List of the Killed & Wounded, I heartily pray that my
cousin Gifford may not have been among either; though I hope he was at the
battle. I owe a letter to my Aunt & Uncle Palgrave who most kindly wrote to me as
did Aunt Jacobson.
The letters, which detail the reasons, inducing Maria’s husband to return to
Scotland, are among those (of July and Aug[us]t. Last) which have never reached
me. I do hope that Adye’s box of instruments is sent, & overland. This mode of
conveyance is far the safest. & no saving of cost can make amends for the delay,
trouble, anxiety, & probable breakage which accompany the transmission of such
articles to India round the Cape of Good Hope. The knowing ones contrive to get
enormous packages over land; & the lack of instruments has already involved me
in a great deal of expence[sic].
I am now staying with Mr Müller & am busy in arranging & packing my plants;
before I go down to Mr Hodgson at the foot of the mountains where I have ordered
Tents & Elephants; Mr Barnes kindly providing the latter & Campbell the former.
We have been favoured with what I might call an Angel’s visit, from Mr. Tayler, the
Post--Master--General for India, brother to F. Taylor, the Artist. He is a
gentlemanly, agreeable & highly accomplished man & a splendid sketcher; & we
became friends in a very few hours. Like all the old, highly paid Civil servants in
India, Mr T[ayler] is in deep debt, which is a matter of mere moonshine apparently
to him &
[[2]] & generally so to others, in this country. With an income of nearly £3000 a-year, Mr Taylor is obliged to turn his talents as an artist to account. He has made 6
charming views of Darjeeling & the snowy range, perfectly good as respects the
scenery, but not, I think, of high excellence as works of art. For his line is more that
of a portrait than a landscape--painter. We have persuaded him to get these
sketches lithographed, in color, for sale; & I have engaged to dispose of 6 copies
in England. He excels in costumes and characteristic figures; & his pictures of
Lepchas &c are quite beautiful. He is making one for me, & proposes that it shall
be a large picture, & represent myself and party returning from the Snows;
Lepchas, Bhoteas, self, Pony, Yak, Dogs &c. But I fear he may not have time to
complete it. He went down today to visit some of his Post--Stations, & after a
fortnight’s absence returns to Darjeeling. He is lately come from Cattmandu
[Kathmandu], whence he brings a charming Portfolio. Few people are better
known in India Than Mr Tayler, & he has taken the likeness of half the residents,
who are beggars enough to ask him to do so; for he is a most good--natured
fellow. I tell you all the more about him, because I expect we shall become great
friends. The station is almost empty, & I have hardly an acquaintance, but Müller
and Mr O'shaugnessy.
I have brought from the snows a most grand Bhotea Dog, about which I must write
to dear Bessy, & a droll puppy, of a breed which I hope will live in the Plains. The
former is a huge & savage creature, but a faithful watch: he does not bite me but
has already so served 3 of my servants, chiefly at night. If you know a book called
"Youatt on the Dog" & can refer to it, you will find a splendid wood cut of this,--"the
Thibet Mastiff." My money is not all expended by, I am glad to say nearly £100, as
I believe: And I have paid all the expenses of my journey & purchased many things
for the museum. My Nepal & Sikkim collections look extremely well; & 3 boxes of
seeds are now about to go to England. I have ordered a boat, to convey them,
from the foot of the Hills. There are about 100 large bundles of dried plants, & a
great store of sundries for the museum, which I am sure will gratify my father.
[[3]] Stocks has not answered (possibly he has not received) my letter. I like his
papers in the London Journal of Botany very much. There is a very large collection
of mosses and other Cryptogamia, all mixed together, except the Fungi, which are
taken out. Please to send the whole, to Wilson, who will separate the mosses, &
let him do whatever papa may judge best with them in describing & naming. I shall
never have the time to attend to them; & as describing botanists appear to think
that a discoverer has little or no claim to the credit of the species, so he is
welcome to publish them, with his own names & to his own honor. I care not a rush
about the matter. The only thing to which I object is the allowing such plunderers
as A. to pick for themselves.
Jordan, Editor of the Literary Gazette, is the ugliest fellow in the trade, but a kind
and good natured one, & he speaks well of my letters in his periodical. I have not
read these said letters, & I cannot perceive that they quite deserve the slashing
they are said to have received in the Athenaeum. Everybody here knows about it. I
think however, that perhaps some rather puerile & flippant passages (which I
never expected would be published) have been allowed to stand; but when I see
the article, which won’t break my heart, anyhow, I shall be a better judge & will tell
you more if it be at all sharp & cutting, as I hear, it certainly is not from the pen
(which my father expects) of L. He is a fat goose -- "piger, ineptus quam maxime
obesus" -- & quite incapable of aught but a heavy essay, such as the slighting one
upon the Botanical Magazine. He is also a mere (& a very blunt) tool of M. in all
that concerns reviewing -- too good--natured to speak harshly of me; & influenced
in what he said of the Botanical Magazine by what he probably considers a sacred
duty towards a science,-- of which, & its requisites, he knows literally nothing.
Hodgson positively will not send me the Athenaeum which contains the article;-that paper is, however, generally an excellent judge of merit.
My father’s copy of Griffith’s Palms, was, I think, incomplete. McLelland assured
me he was making up a perfect set of all Griffith’s works for him. I like very much
the sketch of my report on what McLelland has done & is doing, (as given in the
London Journal of Botany) &
[[4]] shall be anxious to see what is said, with respect to the Calcutta Gardens.
The New Zealand plants had certainly better be put into the Herbarium, numbered
& catalogued; as I did with those from Van Dieman’s Land *2, & would have done
with the former before my leaving home, but I had not time.
Humboldt’s letter, respecting the school maps of Physical Geography, is most
kind; & I will answer it as soon as I have seen Hodgson. I wrote to Col. Sabine, &
received a long & kind reply by the return of the mail. He is very anxious that I
should take some meteorological observations here; & I have promised to do so, if
he will send me the instrument; & if it arrives, when I am too busy or temporarily
absent, Mr Müller has kindly promised to take them for me. This latter friend is
extremely hospitable & devotedly fond of Science; the only return I can make is by
giving him some instruments for which I have written by this mail to Newman,
sending my letter through Wheatstone. The Box will come, overland, & if you have
anything to send by April Mail remember that Newman will be preparing it, on the
arrival of the mail that takes this letter. It will be large. I will thank you to pay
Newman out of the £50 from T. & Mr Müller will settle with me for such of the
instruments as are not my present to him.
Lobb (a plant--collector for nurserymen) would do extremely well here, but for the
difficulty which attends the transmission of articles to Calcutta. The roads are in a
shameful condition; & the bankrupt government cannot mend them, -- nor many
other matters.
I have exchanged with Dr. Wight, a copy of my Antarctic Flora for one of his
Icones. Have the kindness to desire Reeve, who has some of my copies, to send
an uncoloured one to Bailliere for Dr. Wight. The Icones are excellent, especially
the latter plates; & the book itself is invaluable.
If as I fear is the case, the widow of Williams (of the Geological Survey) is left
destitute (she has 6 children), there ought to be a small sum raised for her, by the
officers of the geological survey.
[[5]] I have written to Reeks about it, & requested, that, if this be done, he would
apply to you for £10. in my name; for, during the 2 months I spent with poor
Williams, he would not allow me to spend a shilling for bread or travelling
expenses. Reeks will only set down my name for £2.2. I give the rest under a
fictitious signature for neither could some of my brother--officers afford so much,
nor are they called upon to give it, by obligation to the deceased.
By this mail I have written to Frances Henslow, & two letters to my father:-- also to
Sabine, Wheatstone, Stephan Ward, Mr Phillipps, Reeks, & your good old friend,
Mr Lyell. I hope also to address Sir C. Lyell & Mr Darwin.
My essay on the Coal--Fossils looks charmingly; thanks my dear mother, to your
scrupulous attention to my wishes, & to the careful correcting of the press. I am
extremely pleased with it and much obliged to you.
Feb. 2nd Post hour is come. I am writing to Lyell & Darwin; but their letters cannot
go till tomorrow, when I hope they will still catch the steamer from Calcutta. My
best love to my father & Bessy, & kind remembrances to other friends and
relations.
Your most affectionate son. | Joseph D. Hooker
ENDNOTES
1. This letter is a copy, written in a hand not that of the original author, JDH. The
copy was probably made by JDH's mother or sister.
2. The island formerly known as Van Diemen's land is now called Tasmania.
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