[[1]]
Darjeeling
Aug 1. 1848 *1
My Dear Father
When I wrote you a week ago it was under the impression that the mail left Calcutta
on the 3d. it is however the 10th from this month & so I address you again. I have
taken advantage of the fit to write many letters to Humboldt, De la Beche Lord
Morpeth, & a good many others. I intend<ed> to add Mr Philipp to the list but did
n<ot> after addressing Lord M. but will by next mail. I hoped further to have made
this a long & journal letter & set aside this, the really last morning on purpose, but a
very heavy gale of wind last night (these are rare here) did so much damage to the
Forests that I have taken advantage of it to get many timber plants in flower & fruit
which I wanted very badly. I have just brought in a great hamper full with 2 Epiphyte
Vaccinia new to me, a Misseltoe[sic] 10ft high & as much in spread, some dozen
Fer<ns> the branch of an immense oak hard by; the stems are about 8-- from one
point & each as thick as my arm --, it is a new species, I have only 2 Loranthi & 2
Vis<ca.>
[[2]] of oaks I have 8, they are now ripening their acorns, but these are not fit till
October & November. The Streptolirion of Edgeworth is in full flower & very pretty. I have
sent a stock of sorts down by Post Bhanghy but they will be 20 days of reaching
Calcutta *2 this season[.] I have 2 more mens' loads of Orchideae[sic] to go down,
chiefly Dendrobia & Coelogyne. The Rubi[aceae] are now fruiting & I am waiting the
seed. I have 13 species but not seeds of all. There are 3 large stinging nettles here
now coming in flower & endless other Urticeae, they have stung me to day through
the trousers & raised great weals on the legs & arms of my poor naked Lepchas who
only laugh at such disasters. I found a Ficus today close by, alt[itude] 7600 about, a
higher limit than I supposed it to attain.
The woods are covered with Arum, Balsam, Streptolirion & Polygona[sic] forming the
mass of herbage, there are no grasses but the small Bamboo. & I can get the flower
of this no where. The Figs are wonderful, as big as 2 fists.-- not bad stewed with Port
wine. Laurinea[sic] abound I have many species some have delicious scented
berries. Cyrtandreae are only coming into flower, Begonia are plentiful I have sent
roots of several down & will get more: the Magnolia are all fruiting nicely which I am
glad of as I can no where find young plants though
[[3]] the old are so abundant. I have just seen a long letter from Madden who talks of
sailing to England in spring & giving you the pick of all his collections. Winterbottom
has joined Strachey (the brother of Thib[et]. mission) who is surveying Kumaon. I still
hope to reach the snow from this & shall try even if I get no permission, in October;
but without Gov[ernmen]t permission I cannot travel effectively for the Lepchas
daren't go for fear of being kidnapped & fined or sold as slaves for shewing[sic] the
way. Campbell is very civil & will I hope manage this yet.: but he dreads getting into
a scrape with Gov[ernmen]t. & has no pluck. My only requirements are mountaineer
serv[an]ts who have no property in Sikkim to lose. My route will be W[est]. to the
Nepaul [Nepal] frontier & there N[orth]. to Kinchin junga [Kanchenjunga]: but there
are no roads & so I shall have to cut the a way, which is not difficult but very tedious.
Rubiaceae & Myrtaceae & Leguminosae are rare here the two latter very much so. I have
20 Araliaceae & abound in Rosaceae, Aroideae, & Verbenaceae, Laurinceae, &
Acanthaceae 0. but plenty 3000 ft lower[.] The number of timber trees is very
remarkable but few have good wood. Walnut is one of the best, the fruit exactly like
ours but leaf different, the fruit of the Bootan [Bhutan] kind is thin shelled
[[4]] & better than this. The Plantain is in flower & I have the ♂ it is not eaten but a
cultivar is grown at 4000 ft introduced from the plains it is not good. I got the truly
wild Mango the other day from 4000 ft.
I sent seed of the ground Raspberry, a Rubus sow in cool place & grow in open air with
Vacc[inium]. Oxycoccos & Tussack.
In great haste yr mst aft son | Jos. D Hooker [signature]
Tree fern scraps enclosed can't name it though very near Als. gigantea & perhaps
that.
ENDNOTES
1. An annotation written in another hand records that the letter was "recd Oct 23"
2. The city formerly known as Calcutta is now called Kolkata.
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