[[1]]
Myrung Khassya Mts
Oct 21/[18]52
Mr dear Father
I wrote to you by last mail from the Jyntea country, where we spent a week or two, a
good deal to the East[war]d of Churra [Cherrapunji]. I have received no letters for
some time past, though I do not doubt you have written & that the news is
somewhere or other. By the last Marseilles I was told the paper continued the news
of your having been at Osborne house; though whether as a guest or on some
business of the Exhibition (as I guess) I do not know. any--how I congratulate you
much sincerely on the honor, the highest of its kind you could receive. I am sure you
deserve being taken high notice of & as a sort of reward for a long period of active
usefulness in a public department the circumstance is equally gratifying to you & to
your affectionate son. A Southampton is in since but no letters yet for me & another
Marseilles
[[2]] is daily expected.
We have enjoyed our excursion (not yet finished) very much though [Thomas]
Thomson I am sorry to say has been very poorly, bilious & dyspeptic. pray say
nothing of this however, but he is far from strong. Amongst our best plants are the
Nepenthes, which appears to me very different from & much handsomer than N.
distillatoria, as much so as N. rafflesiana is to this. It grows in open grassy hills
straggling on the ground, a foot or two long in a very moist climate. I sent 50
excellent young plants to Churra where my friend Lieutenan]t Raban had them
potted for me & sent some in beautiful order to Falconer by Mr Inglis who went to
Calcutta [Kolkata] a few days ago. By the same mail opportunity I send two loads of the
Vanda coerulea, the most superb Orchid of this or perhaps any other county. I have
two more loads
[[3]] to go. Falconer will take care of the transmission of the strong ones to you. Of
seeds you are I hope receiving lots from me as I am weekly sending packets to
Calcutta for transmission. Oaks are now ripening & I am planting some & sending
others down to be planted in wards cases at the Calcutta Gardens -- also Palms.
We meet Lobb here, we arriving on the same day from Jyntea as he did from
Nungklow -- we spent the evening & following morning most pleasantly, but he would
not stay even a day with us, though in no hurry, it appears odd to me he talks very
slightingly of the plants & seeds as usual & to judge by what he says he cannot be
worth 6d to Veitch & Co. His plants he says die en route to Calcutta & that it is almost
useless sending roots bulbs or cuttings straight home from there.
In this he is I am sure quite
[[4]] correct they should all be overhauled in Calcutta, the dead ones thrown away &
if possible the living restored a little He says my Nepenthes is distillatoria & may be
right, but if so, it is greatly handsomer than even McNab's specimen. I found a single
specimen of Apostasia in Jyntea & a little of a new species of Falconers curious
genus Gamoplexis also a curious small plantain with scarlet erect spike, as well as
the fruit tomentose -- I sent lots of ripe seeds. Also Hydropeltis a new Polyosma
several new Sonnerilas[sic] 2 fine Aristolochias -- Hexameria -- a new hermaphrodite
flowered genus allied to vallisneria wh[ich]. Tom has been examining, a quite new
Hamamelid, (the 3'd of these hills & diff[eren]t. from any of Griffiths) a fine magnolia,
2 new Burmanias Erycibe, Tupistra &c. From here after Lobb left we went again to
Nunklow, & have just returned with however no great novelties from that quarter
wh[ich]. we have
[[5]] pretty well exhausted. Amongst others you will be glad to hear of two
Podostemum (Hydrobryum Endl.) probably both Griffith's species. The plants are
annual not evident till August & nor do they flower till October, they always grow in
the very rapid rotten deep water & so cannot be got till the rivers are low. I am
satisfied that I never saw one in Sikkim *1 where the waters are probably too cold.
We have examined both & believe that their true affinity has never been hitherto
guessed; at least our ideas are wildly different from those of our predecessors & as
we think we can afford to speak more positively than they did, we may be right at any
rate we are agreed as far as we can be with such slender materials. Cardiopteris we
have been examining very carefully in all its stages & have a pretty good history of it
-- It is certainly a most wonderful plant -- odd in every part. I wonder what Thomas
will do with it. We have also another fine Sabia a reasonably odd genus too, I think I
[[6]] have 5 species now. The season is now past for Botany in these upper grounds
the grasses withering Fern (Pteris) brown, Birch shedding it's leaves & other signs of
winter fast approaching. Still we have some epiphytical Orchideae to get before
returning to Churra in a week, when we pack up & are off for Sylhet & Chittagong.
I am selecting woods & big things for you as well as I am able, but the cost of inland
carriage is very great & of course the gov[ernmen]t. will not consider that -- The oak
woods are fine & I have a good log of pine & all Palms, Bamboos & long grasses put
up 8 feet long, Tree ferns Cycas & Pandani of the same size & come much larger.
The freight to England will be very heavy, but as that will not be out of our pockets I
do not care. I am now putting up whole specimens
[[7]] of the Sacchara on this terai & Arundo[?] folding them to lengths of 8 feet. The
billets of wood are 3 feet to 4 feet --. The Palms & Pandani & Tree Ferns as big as I
can get transported. Thomson is a most active help in also these matters & as he
often goes out when I am drawing in doors you will be largely indebted to his aid[.]
Booth is I believe at Goahatty [Guwahati], or perhaps on his way to Duphla, where I
wish him all success -- I never have any communication with him except a letter from
his agent, directed by him about ordering me to send back to him some wards cases
which I had Falconers directions to take from his (Booth's) things then on their way to
Dorjiling [Darjeeling] where he did not go. As the said cases were suplied both part for
Booth & part for myself I of course civilly refused to give them up. I suppose he is not
much of a gentleman or perhaps it is only Yankieism. I have
[[8]] not a conception what he has done is doing or is likely to do, except get a fever
if he means to be of much service as a collector in Duphla County. Jenkins says he
is fever-proof -- a physical condition I have no belief in. Simons is employing 6
collectors for me in the Assam Terai & I have forwarded him the money £20-- after
which I can stand no more.
I have put plenty of specimens of bulbs Podostemum into spirits as you requested (a
bottle of each) & also collected stones with the plant growing on them, but these
latter look no better than dead Marchantia[?] shrivelled on a wall. I have no news
Campbell is well & writes me all Sikkim news, the Dewan is trying to get the Chinese
to attack us & will I should say probably be put in the stocks at Lhassa, for his pains. The
emperor has sent a tremendous wigging to the Rajah for his conduct to us & says if it
happens again & they show their noses in Thibet [Tibet] the Dewan & Singtam
Soubah shall be taken to Lhas Pekin with ropes round their necks, he adds we the
English gentlemen were entitled to the highest respect from the Rajah & all his people. who
have wantonly insulted the English gov[ernmen]t. Campbell sends 3 apricot stones
from Lhassa, from Tcheba Lama. tell Brown I have the nucleus of a Lhassa
collection at last. Mrs Campbell is very weak & C[ampbell]. proposes sending her
home in spring. Hodgson is very ill. I fear in mind as well as body, but for my sake do
not talk of this.
Eve your most affect[ionate] Son | Jos D Hooker [signature]
ENDNOTES
1. Text starting from here and finishing with "too cold" runs up the left hand margin of
page 5.
Please note that work on this transcript is ongoing. Users are advised to study
electronic image(s) of this document where possible.