[[1]]
Darjeeling
Jan[uar]y 31 1849 *1
My dear Father
I arrived here on the 19th of this month having prolonged my travels in the Mts
considerably longer than I anticipated. My last was written from the interior just
previous to my starting across Sikkim to meet Campbell on the Tartar river. The Kazi
(lest I forget it -- I was wrong about the Casis (more properly spelled Kazi) in my last.
The Kazis are generally large land holders, & governors so to speak of districts: they
are the advisors of the Rajah & Ranee.*2) of Lingcham accompanying me, a merry
little fellow but rather too fond of the murwa pot *3: of which one of his Sepas always
carried & full for his masters use. I went W[est]. to the G[rea]t Rungeet passing
several villages at all of which I was most kindly received., the people bringing me
loads of rice kids fowls baskets of oranges, eggs, milk & vegetables & as this was
the case throughout my residence in Sikkim I shall omit all future direct mention of
the extreme hospitality of both Lepchas & Sikkim Bhotheas. Of the abundance
brought the best example I can give is that I hardly had to buy rice for any of my
party; the days allowance for each man is 2lb & 30 people daily had this from the
[[2]] presents made me by the villagers -- I rewarded always to the extent of my
means & found that generally this had not been at all expected. My only complaint
was getting too much, for I several times had 3 kids in one day with things of a
common sort, fowls eggs &c in proportion.
Passing below Pemiongchi descended to Rungeet; its bed about 3000 ft wholly
tropical in vegetation. Thence over a lofty spur from Kinchin [Kanchenjunga] by many
pretty villages on terraces against the hill sides to the Teesta valley -- where I arrived
on the 5th day. The Rajahs minister (or Dewan) sent a Poney[sic] for me & Campbell
met me about a mile below his camp. When I arrived at Noon I was very glad to have
some one to talk to after so long a silence & he too had plenty to tell me of his route
from Darjeeling hither; & a little tour he made to within a march or two of the snow up
the Teesta river, of the difficulties he met with in the shape of opposition, of the
complicated falsehoods that had been invented to impede his progress & the droll
conduct of the Rajah & his court, who had been obliged to come & meet him on the
river
[[3]] as the only way of preventing his onward progress to the capital of Sikkim. The
Rajah occupied a hut on the opposite bank of the stream, (broad rapid about 80yds)
Campbell was camped on this in a pretty orange grove & the Dewan took up his
quarters in a house hard by. The latter had become great friends with C[ampbell]. as
he did also with me, he is a Lhassa educated man, of perfectly agreeable address &
person, but the very greatest liar & rogue you can imagine in all political matters &
the most unconcerned one. He took me for a spy & brother rogue & probably does
so still…next day we had an audience with the Rajah! a little old black man of quick
manners & eye; thoroughly Chinese in every thought & action & very sorry indeed to
see us so far into his country. he crossed the river in a Bamboo raft: I in a shooting
coat lent me by Campbell, my traveling cap & plaid Campbell more respectable. we
were received in a shed fitted up so as to show the R[ajah]. off to immense
advantage according to the taste of his poor self & people. The shed was hung with
faded
[[4]] China silk, there was no furniture[,] we brought, at the R[ajah]'s request, our own
chairs, (the leg of mine poked through the Bamboo floor & kept up a squeaking at in
a very high key--) at the upper end of the little room was a high stage 6 feet! also
covered with tattered silks & over it a very shabby canopy under which the R[ajah].
squatted cross legs, a little body swathed in yellow silk with a pink broad brimmed
low crowned hat on. Such an attempt at display was really humiliating.
He never returned our salutes but looked wistfully at us & then at his courtiers, some
dozen of very dirty fellows in silks (Kazis) who were ranged against the wall as
mutes -- The conversation was trifling & brief relating to Campbells insisting on
having a responsible authority from the Rajah at Darj[eeling]. In the middle presents
were brought & white scarfs thrown round our necks as a signal to depart, but we
stuck to our seats in spite of all hints & told him of my intention of again travelling in
spring to the snowy passes E[ast]. of Kinchin, & of how disappointed I was with the
permission coming so late he made no answer
[[5]] to all this & we are now about to send the formal announcement of my
proceeding in March up to the Teesta to the Lachen & Lachoon [Lachung] passes,
which are at the N[orth] E[ast]. corner of Sikkim. My offering to the R[ajah]. was of
pieces of red cloth & great beads, with a few such like articles provided for me by
Campbell, his return was a noble yak, a splendid brick of Tea --a cwt *4: of Thibet
[Tibet] butter in horse hair bags: apricots from Bokhara, plums & Zizyphi from do -- a
cwt of salt, with fowls &c &c &c. Bhotea woollen cloth, exceedingly good, & very bad
damask silk also some plums sultanas raisins & zante currants, which come in
beautifully for Xmas & New Years day. The Dewan chatted with us in the tent several
times sipping Tea with great relish & asking many pertinent questions about the
Company *5 , Calcutta *6 &c &c. He gave us much excellent information about Thibet- which he describes as the most wretched poverty struck place in the world.
Bhomsong (the ghat where we camped) is in a deep valley with Tropical forests
skirting the river, abundance of several Palms & the Sikkim Pandanus.
We started on the 3d day after & as I was very anxious for Campbell's company he
[[6]] kindly assented to accompany me back to Pemiongchi, whence he had to
proceed direct to Darjeeling & the foot of the Hills for the annual fair held at Titalya &
of which he is the founder, projector & head. -- We followed the same road as that I
had come by, but turned off for 2 days N[orth], ascending Mainomchoo a Mt nearly
12000ft high & commanding a splendid view of the whole of Sikkim. Mainomchoo is
N[orth] E[ast] of Pemiongchi & on the spur of Kinchin dividing the G[rea]t Rungeet
from Teesta. It is forest clad to the top which is crowned with Ab[ies] webbiana. The
weather was fortunately glorious for the first night we slept on the snow which was
near 2 ft deep & next morning reached the summit where was a a[sic] small wooden
Temple in which we passed that & part of the following day. The wood was so dense
with small Bamboo, Rhododendrons, Cotoneaster &c that I could not get about at all
plunging through snow in such a vegetation being very disagreeable. There was little
to be had, so I took sketches & bearings of the peaks, meteorology observations &c
whilst Campbell obtained a great deal of information
[[7]] from the people who accompanied us. The Mt is neither so productive as the
vaster range or snowy passes; wanting the excessive humidity & warmth of the
former & the elevation of the latter. I procured a good many nice mosses & young
plants of Rhod[odendron]. Falconeri & 2 others one with a leaf nearly as large but
quite smooth & varnished, a totally distinct species of which I send seed -- I forgot
the size of some of the foliage of those 2 I now have drying: it far exceeds what I told
you before of R. Falconeri. I also got you stems & leaves of a new alpine Bamboo,
which is never known to flower.
Hence W[est]. to the G[rea]t Rungeet which we crossed higher up than I did in
coming, to visit the Tassiding Convents, the oldest & best in Sikkim, There are 3 on
an exceedingly steep conical hill rising out of G[rea]t Rungeet about 15000 ft above
the bed of that River. These are very curious & ornamented inside with great taste,
the carving gilding & frescoe[sic] painting about 300 y[ear]s old is all good: the
architecture Chinese or rather Thibetan [Tibetan], the idols fine library pretty good -& the quantity of Cliasty[?] as on sacred
[[8]] tombs & mon mendongs/walls covered with inscriptions -- was exceedingly very
considerable. The Lamas & monks were very kind & we spent a most interesting day
examining the buildings drawing &c of the extent & beauty of these Sikkim convents
no conception had previously been formed there are 18 in Sikkim of various degrees
of beauty & antiquity all are ornamented by Lhassa artists -- I have seen from one
spot 11 Goompas (Lamas Gumbos) or convents all of great sanctity & chiefly on spurs
from the snowy range.-- Tassiding is crowded with frescoe paintings chiefly of Sakya
& crowds of Lamas in prayer or teaching, surrounding the figures, as Angels do the
Saints on the walls of Europ[ean]. Xs.*7. In Tassiding we did not find a trace of any
pure Hindu divinity, all was Trans Himalaya. In the other convents I have visited: all of
more recent creation founding, there is much evidence of the mixture of Hindu with
Lama worship.
Here we spent new year day & on 1st Jan[uar]y proceeded to Pemiongchi convents,
which are in decaying condition. On the 2d of the year Campbell left me S[outh]. for
Darjeeling. I walked a little way to conduct him to
[[9]] Mendong on the road which I had visited before, it is I think (I have not my notes
at hand) 400 yards long & contains 800 inscribed slabs of mica slate engraved in 3
Thibetan characters. I remained the day trying to sketch in the Temples, but the
elevation being 7000ft & situate on the tip top of a ridge it was cold. On the 4 th I
started for Kinchin junga [Kanchenjunga], with a party of 20. Reached Yoksun
[Yuksom] on the 3d day the last village in Sikkim & above which are the Doobdee
[Dubdi] convents. The head Lama is shut up for 8 years of prayer & sent a
handsome present & many apologies, as did several of the monks who were
delighted with my drawing their temple & splendid Cypress tress: these trees I had
only seen 2 of previously at Tassiding. All are planted & I suspect all ♀ as I could
[see] no young plants & the cones were all fertile: they are introduced with great
difficulty some say from Nepal, others Bhotan [Bhutan] & others Lhass China. It is
exceedingly beautiful & wreaths of it the most elegant I ever saw, we wore them for
our hats & they sat well on the long haired Lepchas, keeping the sun off[,] the long
apices of the branches dangling down the shoulders. I have an enormous load of
specimens dried.
Yoksun is a most curious place on a broad flat, by far the greatest level ground in
Sikkim, amongst very lofty & very steep spurs from the perp[etual].snow. The Ratong
river runs close by it, & at this valley we proceeded for 3 more marches to Jongri on
the E[ast]. bank of the river through a thick close jungle for 2 days about 7000ft. &
then ascended to the October snow camping the first night on a hill about 13000 ft &
the following at Jongri which is about the same elevation, & of course plentifully
snowed at this season.
Jongri is a yak port, or rather was, for it has hardly been visited since the Nipalese
[Nepalese] closed the Sikkim pass of Kanglanamo nor was it ever more than a
halting place used in the summer months. We found 2 huts more like piles of stones
than any home, pitch dark & very low -- I gave them up to the people & slanted my
blankets against the wall for a tent. It is a most curious place, really upon Kinchin,
the grand snows of which rise on all sides, rugged granite precipices, which have
[[10]] pierced the Gneiss & [one word deleted, illeg.] mica--slate rocks carrying them
up in shattered peaks & cliffs to 20,000 ft. The spur on which the huts stand has
Pundim on a sharp cone 22000 ft on the N[orth]. East; a sheer precipice of 4 or 6000 ft;
descending from its apex to a sea of glaciers & beds of snow below: this cliff is too
steep to be snowed & shews[sic] a face of burnt red stratified rocks so twisted &
contested as to appear like shot silk permeated with broad white veins of granite
which caps the whole. Kubroo an immense saddle with a peak of 25000 ft at either
extremity rises on the left, a continuous mass of snow, ridges from each conve
converge to Kinchin top, & form long shoulders to the latter which terminates in 3
knobs of of -- all Kinchin above 20 000 seems granite. The Ratong winds N[orth]. to
the base of the central mass, first through great glacier formed spurs of gavel & sand
& rock & then banks of snow. These terraces of gravel &c are eminently curious &
perfectly resemble the small spurs & terraces which appear in all the Subhimal
valleys & on which the villages are invariably placed. The Jongri spur communicates
with Kubroo & stretches S[outh] & W[est]. across the Ratong valley; it is very
rounded & covered with conical hills & little Lake beds. -- it is was I expect expect[sic]
so shaped by glacial action when it opposed the passages of Berg ice from Kinchin
on its way down the Ratong valley, when that, now 12--15000 ft above the sea was
an arm of the ocean -- it is totally unlike any other Himal. ridge I have seen. The
ground was frozen 16 inches deep. There is none but herbaceous vegetation &
dwarf juniper.-- The new I suppose Tingurisella Pine of the ghurkhas [Gurkhas] & [Abies]
webbiana were abundant & the only Pines I saw. On the first & only fine day I
ascended to about 14000 ft saw the remains of very many plants I had not procured
a very few seeds & some Rock Lichens. At night we had snow which fell on the
following day so hard that I had to hurry away on the 3d day marching the men with
great difficulty through 2 to 4 ft of snow which amongst bushes is very fatiguing work.
-- The temp[erature] fell to zero & it was bitterly cold & my Lepchas, most several of
whom had never been to the snow before, behaved admirably & not one uttered a
complaint, at this elevation too a few steps under any circumstances is fatiguing &
the glare of new fallen snow in so transparent rarified[sic] an atmosphere giving
soreness at once to unprotected eyes. I cast the veil Mrs C[ampbell]. made me with
little pieces for some [of] the party, others hung yak tails over their eyes, pieces of
paper; or unloosed their queues *8 & combed their long hair over their fore<heads>
[[11]] I am extremely gratified with the visit quite as much as with Yangma valley -two more interesting spots have probably never been visited in the Himala[ya]. I
made a large collection of dwarf Rhodod[endrons]. & every thing I could many mosses -Andrea & a little Splachnum the most novel -- of the dwarf Rhod[odendrons] I have a
dozen or two poseys[sic] for the museum, their scent (of resinous leaves) was
overpowering: the Bhoteas attribute the headaches of these regions to them & not
the rarified[sic] air. I think I can feel my head throb still every time I smell the plants in
my collection -- 10 sp of Rhod[odendron]. occur at below Jongri & above the limit of
pines, one or two were new to me, but their leaves are so cockled at this season that
the specimens are bad.at 6000--7000 ft I gathered in one day 46 sp. of Ferns.
Spheropteris the most abundant. At & below 6000 ft is a good (excellent) Botanizing
region all the year round.
On reaching Yoksun where I halted, to rest the men, a day, all the villagers came out
to meet us bringing large presents, as did the Lamas & monks, no one they said had
ever visited Jongri in winter before -- Hence I returned to Darjeeling, first visiting a
remarkable holy lake on a lofty forest clad spur of K[anchenjunga]., as also some
convents hard by. Thence to Changachelling convents near <to> Pemiongchi, the
Lamas of which I knew, they are ornamenting their temple very beautifully. The
workmen come from Lhassa, the colors from Pekin -- to my amazement I found
myself on the walls, in a flowered coat & pantaloons, hat, spectacles, beard &
moustache, drawing in a notebook an angel on one hand offering me flowers, & a
devil on the other doing homages I never laughed so much in my life & the Lamas &
artists were pleased beyond measure at my recognizing the likeness. They gave me
a house & treated me most hospitably. Thence in 4 days I reached Darjeeling;
getting drenched on the way, for the weather was very bad. So ended my journey,
without slip accident or the loss or hurt of a single man of my sometimes very
numerous party. In Sikkim I have not spent an unquiet hour (except on the coolies
account in the snow) I had neither Gun nor Pistols arrows or keys & lost nothing whatever. From the simple
people, Bhotheas & Lepchas, I have met every attention & kindness & very pleased
they will be to see me again, though should the Rajah appose, fear will deter them
from coming near me, that I do not anticipate however. A more interesting country for
Tourist artist Naturalist or antiquarian can scarce be found, it was untrodden in any
walk previous to my visit & I have but flitted over the surface.
My plant collections are very considerable but very deficient in the alpines owing to
the lateness of the season.
Ever yr most affect[ionate] son Jos D Hooker [signature]
[[12]] On arriving at Darjeeling I find that Hodgson has gone to spend the cold
months at the foot of the hills, & that a bed is prepared for me at my kind friend Mr
Muller's: his brother Charles has returned to Patna but he remains here another
year. My observations I find beautifully copied out & many of them calculated by Mr
Muller. I shall remain with him till I get all my collections dried packed & sent to
Calcutta for transmission to England, this will take a good deal of *9 time as I have
some 50 bundles to arrange & label, besides all the seeds & museum specimens:
then I follow Hodgson & we explore the Terai & lower hills together; returning to
Darj[eeling].in March.
ENDNOTES
1. An annotation written in another hand records that the letter was received
"Wed[nesda]y March 28." [1849].
2. This text is written at the bottom of page 1 but Hooker has indicated that it should
be inserted here with an "x".
3. Murwa is the Hindi name for Origanum majorana, marjoram.
4. cwt is the abbreviation of centrum weight also called a hundredweight, a unit of
mass.
5. Probably refers to the East India Company.
6. The city formerly known as Calcutta is now called Kolkata.
7. In this case X is symbol standing for churches.
8. Queue, in this case meaning a plait or braid.
9. 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 6. via
Southampton | To | Sir W.J. Hooker | Kew | London."
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