[[1]]
Lachoong (village)
Octob. 25/ [18]49 *1
My dear Father
The post has just reached me with your kind & gratifying letters of Aug 18th & 24. to
which I hasten responses. It is very good of you to think so much of my future
prospects at the garden &. about the alteration of my plans, I have written you ere
this at length & can only repeat how much & truly obliged I am, how much & how
truly I feel satisfied that you have done all for the very best & that I am of one mind
with all the views you entertained -- about the Admiralty[?] you will find no difficulty
whatever. I will send you the application to forward. The real & only difficulty, the
transference of a 1d of the money, you have successfully achieved. & the only
question now is how will my passage home be paid? I am well out of Borneo at any
price & do not feel the obligation to draw upon you that
[[2]] I once did though I hope you do not find me unrecoverable[?].
This good fellow Campbell tells me he has paid all my bills at Dorjiling [Darjeeling]
out of the money from Gov[ernmen]t. or out of the coolie bill & food, so that at
present I am quite comfortable & have not spent the 500 for this year, which will be
out in a few days. I am very glad to hear that the Plain plants arrived in good order, &
I have written about the bellows. Cecil Beadon is the Sec[retar]y. of the Board of Salt
& opium, to whom I am indebted for the opium implements I implore you to spell his
name properly though his signature be illegible (as I know it is).
The 6 Rhod[odendron]s. coming up is a great thing. I am collecting now an immense
lot of seed & send some samples Enclosed, but the majority are not nearly
[[3]] ripe yet. Our rains are scarcely over & poor Campbell has not had so
comfortable a trip with me as he otherwise would have had. Still we are enjoying the
ameliorating weather & one anothers society beyond measure -- what do you think -we spent -- 4 days in Thibet ! in spite of Chinese guards Dingpuns, Peepons[?]
Soubahs & Sepas. It was a serious undertaking & required a combination of most
favorable accidents together with my previous acquaintance with the county & a
most indomitable share of bullying impudence & boldness. -- Campbell has behaved
splendidly, & diverted me by throwing all the sage precepts he sent me to the
winds[.] He has frankly told me that he did not, could not, believe the real nature of
the opposition & illtreatment[sic] I had received, he had not been two days with
[[4]] me, before he was storming & bullying -- right & left; the unfortunate Singtam
Soubah <(>with whom at C.s intercession I kept such good friends with) he
(Campbell) gave no peace to, blackened his face, & sent him back to the Durbar in
disgrace. -- on arriving at Tunga an hour after C[ampbell].I found him at a drawn
battle with the Peppon[?] my arch enemy & quite astonished that the ruffian cared no
more for himself than he did for me, or the Rajah, or any body else under the sun.
After weighing all the possible consequences of breaking through the border, & of
perhaps exposing the rajah to menaces from China &c, we determined to do it if
possible & told the border chief that if he dared to oppose we would send a guard of
Sepas from Dorjiling & close the Pass. This threat & promise of a present if we
succeeded
[[5]] got the man over, the Singtam Soubah (Lord of all the district) being
conveniently packed off in disgrace two days before. Our great ally was the Tcheba
Lama, the Rajahs representative at Campbells court a man of intelligence &
vigor[sic] who had been dreadfully misused in Sikkim by the enemies of the English
who surround the Rajah's post: this man we absolved from all participation &
consequence, offering him an Asylum & provision at Dorjiling, should the worst come
to pass. -- On the border we were met by two Thibetan Sepas who made a terrible
row & endeavored to stop us, without laying hands however on our bridles. They
however met us in Sikkim, swore that was Bhote (Thibet alias Chin) a lie of which
<we> took advantage when really over the border -- then <a> terrible row was kicked
up & the Chin camp came out, running after us with boots, matchlocks &c. The Lama
& Peppon both got frightened & implored us to stop for a conference, to this
Campbell properly acceded & I put spurs to my pony & gallopped[sic] ahead on to
the sandy plains of Thibet determined to stay away all the day & see what I could:
there was no good I could do by waiting with C[ampbell]. who I felt could make no
retrograde motion while I was ahead -- two Sepas started in pursuit of me, but
Campbell kept them back with his stick till I was out of sight & of catcheable[sic]
distance. The elevation 17000 ft was such that my pony was soon knocked up & I
pursued my way on foot at the Lachen at the back of Kangra Kinchin Jhow, over dry
[[6]] sandy or stony Dunes with Carex, a little grass tufts of nettles, Ephedra & a
thirsty looking Lonicera ? a few inches high. proceeding N.E. from Kongra Lama I
had long stony rolling mts [mountains] on the N. & East & to the South the
stupendous snowy mass of Kinchin Jhow, rising plumb perpendicularly from the
sandy plains. Finding the county[?] so traversable I thought *2 it the best thing I could
do to follow the Lachen to its source, near Donkiah Pass, as that would be our route
out, if Campbell should succeed in getting the coolies & himself past the guard -- &
because I had difficulty in making C[ampbell]. believe, before we entered, that I
would & could guide him through the waste with compass & sextant if he only would
break the frontier. Late in the day I arrived at Cholamo lakes, within *3
[[7]] sight of the Donkiah Pass, but my pony was so knocked up that I had great
difficulty in dragging him after me. At the lakes I refreshed him with some tufts of
green Carex & led him back, suffering much from headache as the sun was intensely
hot; & a little exertion brings on headaches at these elevations (nearly 18000 ft.).
Late in the evening I met Campbell's party, viz[.] the Lama & Peppon, looking for me,
they told me that C[ampbell]. had gallantly pushed through 30 Sepas armed with
matchlocks that no hands were laid on him, but on our coolies the Sepas (we had no
Sepas nor arms) who of course were much frightened. That Campbell having shot ahead
& I too being gone, he the Lama took on himself to point out to the Chinese officer that if
either of us died for want of our tents, &c, it would be a terrible affair for the officer
above all, who should have taken us alive <rather> than stop our men. The coolies
were then allowed to pass on too & came up at night suffering terribly from the dry
heat sun & dust & elevation. The Lama then went to find Campbell, who had
mistaken the way towards Donkiah, & soon came in, full of spirits & gave me a most
ludicrous account of the mixture of fright & of [text faded,1 word illeg.] & farce the
Chinese Sepas displayed. In the evening the Chinese followed us, the Dingpun or
Lieutenant, riding on the top of a black Yak ! surrounded with pots pans, bags &
bamboo kettles of butter milk, a tent blankets &c all bundled about his Yak & he on
top of all like a gipsy on a laden Donkey -- he was a small withered man in a green
coat with a gilt button on his tartar cap -- behind came the Sepas, enormous
ruffianly looking men, dressed in blanketing each armed with a
[[8]] pipe, a long knife & a long rude matchlock lashed across his stern -- *4 These
matchlocks are slung at right angles across the hip, they are very rude, long with a
pronged support or rest[;] the latter folds up with a hinge & project like antelope
horns beyond the muzzle. Such ungainly implements *5 across their stern parts were
comical enough looking. They marched in orderly took no notice of us & camped
close by -- we tented in a low cattle enclosure on the bare plain burning Yaks dung
for fuel[.] The cold was intense & wind violent & dusty sky brilliantly clear -- we
determined to stay a day or two w[h]ere we were, at all hazard, & sent word to *6 the
Dingpun that we would condescend to receive him if he would visit us ! next morning.
This he did promptly & we explained to him that it might be all right & proper for him
to obey the orders of the Lhassa Govt. & prevent (or try to) Englishmen passing from
one Sikkim Pass round through Cheen to another but that it was all stuff & we did not
feel ourselves bound to respect their prejudices -- also we added that *7
*8
P.S. Singtam Nov .1. Ripe Ab[ies] webbiana sent 3 sheets. Will you send one to
Lindley ? do not if [you] think better not. if you do send my regards
ENDNOTES
1. A note written in another hand records that the letter was: "rec[eive]d Jan[uar]y 26."
2. The address of the recipient appears here as the letter would originally have been
folded in such a way that it formed its own 'envelope'. The address reads "No I. By
the "Bentinck " | via "Southampton" | Sir W.J. Hooker | Royal Gardens | Kew Near
London."
3. A note written vertically in the right hand margin of page 6 reads "Continued in
other letters"
4. The text that runs from here to "comical enough looking" is inserted vertically in
the space under the address on the right hand side of page 8.
5. Originally written as 'implements ungainly" with an annotation indicating that the
word order be reversed.
6. The address of the recipient appears here as the letter would originally have been
folded in such a way that it formed its own 'envelope'. The address reads "No II. By
the "Bentinck " | via Southampton | 2/ Sir W.J. Hooker | Royal Gardens | Kew Near
London."
7. Letter ends abruptly here without a signature. Though it is unsigned the letter is
written in the hand of Joseph Dalton Hooker.
8. The text that runs from here to the end was written vertically up the left hand
margin of page 1.
Please note that work on this transcript is ongoing. Users are advised to study
electronic image(s) of this document where possible.