[[1]]
Tungu
NE Sikkim
13500ft
July 25 1849
My dear Father
I wrote to Frances [Henslow] on the 9th since which I have carried my point & stood
on the Table--land of Thibet [Tibet] beyond the Sikkim frontier at the back of all the
snowy mts. alt 15500ft. When my last letter went I thought the way was open & that
the Tchebu Lama's letter would have put all difficulties away, it furthered me one
march North & no more, for that careless fellow Campbell had not seen that it
specified the nature of the Pass & I was as open to deceit as ever. The Singtam
Soubah is a very civil good fellow but he has his instructions of course to allow all
obstructions to take their course & rather back them than the contrary. He therefore
professed profound ignorance of the road. The Lachen Soubah swore to a pretty
bridge -- the Choongtam Lama domiciled himself 10 miles ahead professedly in
Thibet & charged every soul man woman & child with the same lie, the Lacha Soubah
[[2]] intercepted all parties coming up, my coolies were so threatened that I could not
take them on myself at the risk of supplies being cut off a tergo *1 -- so I had no
choice but to try patience again, camped & told the Singtam Soubah that we were
very good friends & I would ask the Tchebu Lama about the frontier which was I knew
3 marches ahead on a hill called "Kongra Lama" close to a Chinese guard -- Now so
effectual is the mendacity system carried on that of hundreds of people we enquired
of not one would acknowledge there was such a place, old men & little children it was
all the same -- Now the Singtam Soubah's instructions I also saw were to be most
civil & draw me away -- he represented the Rajah's affection for me as boundless,
should I be lost in a stream or come to hurt, nothing short of a Chuyt at Lhassa &
annual worship could be thought of. The R[ajah]s anxiety on my behalf alone induced
him to pray my return to Dorjiling [Darjeeling] &c &c. The more civil he was the more
so was I but I
[[3]] felt bound so assure him that my instructions were explicit, that I should wait
where I was for order from Campbell which could not be before 20 days -- He
knowing how short of food we were grinned acquiescence fancying he would soon
starve me out -- I in turn knew that the greedy old Rajah by way of insuring his getting
on with his duty had only allowed him & his coolies (sent to repair the road back) only
10 days food. Being camped at 11500 ft I had plenty to do lots of new plants & was
as busy as possible every day & all day for 9 or 10 days the Soubah visited me every
morning & we had long chats, he is a fine fellow & has been in Lhassa Diyanbi &c &
told frankly & freely all he knew giving me much curious information. Talking one
morning of the Mt chains, I asked him for a rude sketch of those bounding Sikkim he
called for a great sheet of paper & charcoal & wanted to make his mountains of sand
-- I ordered rice of which we had sore little & scattered it about wastefully -- it had its
effect. he stared at my wealth -- , & after bidding him good bye (the suitor always is
you know to send your visitor away) I saw no more of my rice which was ominous for
as to his granary. Not
[[4]] long afterward he volunteered to take me a ride to Tungu which all swore was
across the border, I agreed if the tent should go .--he dare not let me -- why? -- it was
"Cheen" (Thibet.) -- then I said I had given my promise not to go into Cheen & would
wait till my orders from Darjeeling came -- he was non--plussed again -- Well, on the
10th day it pleased providence to afflict the Soubah of Singtam with a sore colic so
that he could not pay me his morning visit & as I did not ask for him he took for
granted I was angry & dare not ask for medicine. This was owing to the quantity of
wild stuffs the poor soul had eked out his fare with -- A Serv[an]t came at night to tell
me how bad his master was -- like to die -- he said -- twisting his fingers together &
laying them across the pit of his Stomach to indicate the commotions of the Soubah's
inside -- I gave him a great dose at once & he was on his legs next morning looking
woefully. He tells me he had heard of "Konga Lama" & would take me there one night
at Tungu. I gave the same answer -- Oh he said Tungu is not in Cheen it is in Sikkim
then? -- Yes ! Very well we will all go tomorrow morning & will stay
[[5]] as long as I please -- there was no help for it so he laughed acquiescence.
Samdong (a bridge) the name of this my last place of detention is about 8 miles North
of the fork of the Zemu & Lachen in a stunted forest of Juniper & webbiana. It is on
the Lachen river & the banks on either side are low & grassy swarming with good
plants, marshy flats border the river good yak grazing ground, & I added 50 or 100
species to my collection in a very short time. Thence north to this place is 5 or 6 miles
more, the valley broader & hills lower & still more grassy with lots of new plants in
admirable abundance.
We went to the Pass & into Thibet yesterday, the Saubah of Lachen my arch enemy
the guide. he has made 100 rude apologies -- the Chinese had threatened would cut his
head off &c. I answer that an English man always carries his point & that days weeks
& months are all the same to me. He vows he will tell no more lies, -- not so much as
that hiding all but the very tip of his little finger. That now we are friends he will
shew[sic] me every--thing & I must visit his wife in his black Tent on the frontier. Now
the tables are turned & the Bhotheas are as civil [in] communication & zealous in
good offices as they were before
[[6]] hostile & impracticable.
The pass is about 10˚ North of this the road good -- we had Thibetan ponies of my
feats on which, mounted a la Tartar, I must tell Bessy -- I walked mostly the whole
way collecting lots of new plants of Thibet type -- Above this, the Lachen, which we
followed is bounded by two stupendous mountains, but its bed is between flats & low
stony or grassy hills that margin these -- A litle[sic] juniper & Rhododendron
accompanies us a short way up, beyond which all is short turf & stones, marshy flats
& rocky spaces. the vegetation scanty but very varied -- Thibetans come across the
frontier in summer to feed their yaks living in black horse hair tents, we came across
two I entered one & found nought but a fine Chinese looking girl a jolly laughing
wench who presented me with a slice of curd. These people make butter all the
summer, eating the curd with herbs milk & Fagopyrum bread, the richer only can
afford to buy rice. -- they have 2 sorts of churns one a goat skin in which the cream is
enclosed & beaten stamped on & rolled -- the other an oblong box, a yard long, full of
upright Rhododendron twigs, beautifully frosted with butter but all alive with maggots.
The tents are roomy & watertight
[[7]] though of so loose a texture as to be pervious to the wind & smoke. -- Some miles
higher up we arrived at Peppin's (the Lachen Soubah's) tents & were most graciously
received by his Squaw & family -- The whole party squatted in a ring inside the Tents
the Singtam Soubah & myself at the head on a beautiful Chinese mat Queen Peppin
then made tea (with salt & butter) we each produced our Bhottea cup which was
always kept full -- Curd, parched rice & neat maize were liberally handed round & we
fared sumptuously for I am very fond both of the tea & curd[.] The fire was of Juniper
wood, the utensils of clay moulded at Digarchi, except the churn, of Bamboo, in which
the Tea salt & butter are churned before boiling[.] Kinchin mean time was tied outside
& in a state of chronic furor at a huge Bhothea dog & a most noble animal who longed
to make a meal of my poor Argus. A Tremendous peal like Thunder all at once
echoed down the glen the Bhotheas started up & said we must be off -- the
mountains were falling & we should have rain -- we continued up the glen, 5 or 6
miles in thick fog the roar of the falling masses from Kinchin--jow on the right &
Chomiomo on the left was literally awful for an hour I never heard any thing like--it but
a terrible thunder--storm -- no fragment ever can possibly enter the valley by realm[?]
of the
[[8]] hills flanking the valley river near whose bed we kept. Heavy rain soon fell & drenched us -Gradually we ascended the valley widening & at 15000 ft we emerged on a broad flat
table land or rather range after range of inescalating[?] flat stony terraces with a little
herbage amongst which the Lachen meandered -- 500 ft higher & we were on the top
of a long flat ridge connecting the N[orth] W[est] extreme of KInbhin--jow with
Chomiomo & on this was the border mark, a cairn, Happily it cleared up here -- North
the Plateau dipped by successive very low ridges overhung with the a canopy of the
vapors that had delayed us --. East blue sky & low ridges of the lofty plateau which
here backs the great range -- W[est] spurs of Chomiomo & much mist hid the horizon
-- S[oth]E[ast]. Kinchin jow, a flat topped mass of snow 20 000 ft rose abruptly from
low rocky cliffs & piles of debris, S[outh]. W[est]. Chomiomo, equally snowed & South
between them the plateau into the funnel mouthed head of the Lachen valley -- Here
after 3 months of obstacles I was at last at the back of the whole Himal range, at its
most northern trend in the central Himalayah for this is far North of Kinchin--junga
[Kanchenjunga] & Chomaloo or
[[9]] the Nipal [Nepal] passes I visited last winter & opens right onto to the Thibetan
plateau without crossing a snowy ridge to be surrounded by other & other snowed
spurs as Kanglachen & Wallanchoon do -- Here too I solved another great Problem -there was not a particle of snow any where en route, right or left, or on the great Mts
for 1500ft above my position -- The snow line in Sikkim lies on the Indian face of the
Himal: range, at below 15000ft on the Thibetan at above 16000 -- I felt very pleased
& made a rude Panorama sketch on 4 folio sheets, very rude you may suppose for
the keen wind blew a gale & we were quite wet -- above 15000ft too I am a "gone
coon" my head rings with acute headaches & feels as if bound in a vice my temples
throb at every step & I retch with sea sickness -- Just above 15000 ft all the plants are
new but the moment you reach the plateau 9/10ths disappear & bare earth, a
Potentilla, Ranunculas, Morina, Cyananthus, a grass & Carex, are nearly all the
plants one sees. -- There is no "Dama" (Carajana) nor shrubby Astragalus or Ulex in
this part of Thibet as in the N[orth].W[est]. & Trichaurus which is found at 12--13000ft
on the Indian approaches to Thibet did not reach to the top of the Pass. Still as I
always [bottom line of text obscured]
[[10]] alpine Himalayan vegetation is to be soon replaced by Thibetan sterility, there is
a sudden change in the flora & development of species not found further South, at
equal altitudes in the Himal: For instance I gathered 10 Astragali in the last 5 miles &
8 Ranunculi, 6 Pedicularis several Fumarias & Potentillas -- all new to me & at
between 14500 & 15500ft -- We made a fire of Yak droppings dried, blown up with a
bellows of goat skin & Yak horn snout[.] My shivering Lepchas were numb & I gave
them my cloak, going always well clad myself.-- I staid[sic] an hour & a half, so as to
get good Barom[etric]. obs[ervations] & boiled--water too, but the latter I find ten times
more troublesome than the Barometer. Returning the weather cleared up very fine &
the views of the great Mts reared above rising perpendicularly above the grandest I
have yet seen. For 6000ft they spring up perpendicularly & loom through the mist
overhead their black wall like faces patched with ice & their table tops capped with a
bed of green snow I am afraid to say how thick I guessed 2 or 300 ft in thickness -South down the glen the Mts sunk to low hills, to rise again in the parallel of the great
chain 20 miles south to the perpetual snow in rugged peaks. We staid[sic] a few
[[11]] minutes for Tea at Peppins tents & I took horse at dusk for alas I am quite blind
in the dark. -- the mulish stubborn intractable unshod Tartan pony never missed a
foot sharp rocks, deep strong torrents, slippery patches, pitch dark, were all the same
to him. Except in action they are sorry looking beasts, but the Singtam Soubah full 16
stone weight, rode his the whole 30 miles of rocks, stones, streams & mountains &
except to stop & shake themselves like a dog with a violence that nearly unhorsed me
they shew[sic] no signs of tiring. I should like to stay here some time but cannot get
food up the road between this & Choongtam is so bad that [1 word crossed out, illeg.]
The coolies can carry little more than their own food & blanket. The unlucky Singtam
Soubah is in an agony to be gone, & as I shall go from Choongtam to the Lachong
pass not 12 miles East of this Pass I shall get probably the same plants there, but
that is a Pass I fear 19000ft high (woe's me for my head & stomach) & does not
debouche on, but descends to this same plateau 10 or 12 E[ast] of Kongra Lama. &
of Kinchin jow -- The road from Choongtam is good -- Fever rages below Chres on to
Dorjiling. My people behave admirably well I have not a single complaint but it is very
hard to see a poor lad come in his load left behind staggering with fever caught by
sleeping in the valleys below Dorjiling, eyes sunk, temples throbbing pulse at a 180
120
[[12]] & cannot muster the merry smile with which the poor souls always greet me.
Generally I have no difficulty in getting them round with Quinine & Calomel in this
region -- Here of course & for two marches below Choongtam there is no danger &
with a littler exertion the people might avoid risk, but though I warn every one on
starting & so does Campbell on their return to me, they are too careless to heed & will
sleep in the most pestilentious holes in Sikkim & where I would not on any
consideration. As for me my work is not half finished, my Botany I mean, though I am
collecting & drying from morning to night & doing little else but Botany day by day -We have very little rain here but much mist & I have great difficulty keeping my plants
in order, happily they are small. I do not expect to return to Dorjiling till September or
october & perhaps not then so you need not be alarmed about Fevers for I shall not
be below 6000ft -- Indeed I have not been below 10000 this 2 months -- This is a hard
but most healthy life & I do not know what a lonely hour is though I have not a soul to
speak to. I am writing to Bentham about plants & have so much scribbling I do grudge
repetition -- labelling plants & writing up my journal are no trifles here & I assure you I
am always at work. It is a long time since I have heard from you but this is an awful
way long *2 from Dorjiling -- often 20 days for my post to reach me---- I shall stay here
a few days & then descend leisurely to Choongtam Ever your most aff[ectiona]te son
| Jos D Hooker [signature]
ENDNOTES
1. Latin expression meaning 'from behind'.
2. Text from here is written vertically along the margin of page 9.
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