[[1]]
To G.Bentham Esqre.
Darjeeling, April 1st 1849
My dear Sir, I have always thought myself so secure of an indulgent excuse, from
your kindness, that I have allowed myself to continue silent, longer than good
manners can sanction. And this has been the greater fault; because my father has
mentioned you in almost every letter, telling me how much I owe you for taking up
the Niger Flora. Now that Citoyen Planchon has fled, this is a greater boon than
ever; & I hardly know how to thank you sufficiently. You have, I am sure, often
congratulated me on finding, in these distant lands, such a home as that from
which I address you.. Mr. Hodgson is an extremely gentlemanly & accomplished
man, & has conducted himself toward me, in all respects, as a father might have
done. I cannot describe the obligation I owe him. Apartments, books, society, the
use of servants, & numberless occasions of saving expense, by which I am
enabled to make many purchases for myself & for the Kew Museum, which would
be otherwise beyond my reach,-- for these, & much more, I am his debtor. All the
last rainy season was passed under this roof, up to Oct. & now, in March, I have
returned hither again. But I hope to travel further & more this year than I did during
the last, & I only regret that I must close my letters by the present Mail, before
receiving any definite announcement of the Rajah’s intentions. In many respects,
the Himalaya Range has agreeably disappointed me; especially in having afforded
me the opportunity of selecting from one of its Tribes, a number of men, who have
made excellent travelling & collecting servants; thus greatly diminishing the
difficulty & toil of my marches. The Snowy Passes, too, were rather less formidable
than I had expected; though I must confess to having been “a gone coon” in the
first occasion of mounting to 17,000 ft., when also I underestimated my elevation
by 3000 ft.; & it was not , till I had carefully worked out my Barometrical
observations, that I felt free from a suspicion that it would never do to cross the
Passes. The real & great difficulty, which exists in travelling through the Country I
have lately visited, is this, namely, the impossibility of guessing at position,
altitude, or even the direction in which you are proceeding; & it is very rarely you
see a known height, or object, by which to get a bearing. This requires the
constant use of compass, sextant
[[2]] & a good Watch, which are terrible bores to work out, though the process be
simple enough. In this respect, I have found a most kind & helpful friend in W.
Müller, who is an accountant to the Calcutta *2 Mint, & has come to Darjeeling for
the benefit of his health. I have instructed him in the use of the instruments; & he
calculates many of my observations. Generally speaking, I marched from 9, or 10
a.m. to 4, or 6 p.m. -- I preceded the Coolies, & selected a good camping--ground,
by water &c, before the things came up. Two thick blankets, sewed together,
formed my tent; & with these my expert woodsmen quickly furnished out, in the
course of an hour, a little cottage, with a bed place & table. One man always
walked with me, to carry my tin Vasculum & a basket for specimens; but really my
largest Vasculum held next to nothing at all, of tropical plants; they are so woody &
otherwise bulky. When I encamped before dark, I always ticketed my specimens &
laid them in paper myself, -- 2 or 3 Lepchas assisted me; but, if the daylight was
gone, I was obliged to defer this job to the following day. After my dinner, which
was between 6 & 9.p.m. (& occasionally before dinner) I used to write up my
journals, label the seeds, & accomplish such work as could be done by candle
light. When we camped early, & generally previous to starting the next morning, an
hour, or two was devoted to investigate the immediate neighbourhood. Botanizing,
during the march is difficult. Sometimes the jungle is so dense that you have
enough to do to keep hat & spectacles in company, or it is precipitous, & holding-on forbids collecting, or slippery &c I generally got more plants about the Camp,
than while marching. In open places, above 10,000 ft. & thence up to the snow,
botanizing becomes easier, nor did I find the precipices so frightful, or the bridges
so terrific, as they had been described to me,: certainly one often progresses
spread--eagle fashion against the cliff, for some distance, & crosses narrow planks
over profound Abysses, with no hand--hold whatever; but as my head never turns
giddy there is positively no more danger of falling than on the main road.
Whenever there is "overhand" climbing, the holdfasts are secure, so that setting
aside the alarming appearance, there are more ifs, buts, maybes, & mights, to
being run over in Regent St., than to breaking one’s neck in the passes of the
Himalayah; -- always provided the traveller does not become giddy. Some of the
scenery surpasses my highest expectations of real grandeur; it is as grand for the
Earth as the Antarctic Ocean is for
[[3]] sea, & in both cases, memory fails to record such spectacles with half their
truth & sublimity. Of the impracticable nature of this country, I can give no
adequate description. It is strange to wander so far over a thinly peopled, often
quite uninhabited , district, always confined to a single narrow track, -- the only
one, within many miles, & which has been used for ages long prior to any record;
& from which, no man would dream of diverging with any expectation of
proceeding a hundred yards , either to the right or left. Two questions constantly
recur to the mind,-- Who first tracked this narrow, tortuous road? And who knows
whether there may not be a better & a shorter? Among the passes, especially, it is
impossible to banish the query, -- who could have divined the route, among a
wilderness of Snowy Peaks, such as the broad snowy belt presents? It is
impossible to go in search of a path; & the idea of scaling any height over which
the track does not lie, is utterly forgotten. In the Andes, & Alps, Europeans go,
where no human being has previously set foot; & so I expect to have done here, till
I saw the general character of the range which put its impracticability beyond all
question. Bhotan [Bhutan] & Upper Assam are unfortunately, quite shut to
travellers, except the low parts, which are healthy for but 2 months in the year. I do
not know what to make of a handsome & very common Tree, which grows at the
foot of the Hills; it is lofty with pendulous branches; the foliage is large;-- the lower
leaves opposite, the upper ones alternate,; all oblong, obtuse, sessile & at the
base. Flowers large, interminal panicles, calyx 5--8 parted, coriaceous, valvate;
lobes acute;. Petals as many, while spathulate, reflexed, crisped. Stamens
inflected, 2--8 rowed, not very numerous. German Myrtaceous. -- The tree appears
certainly a Sonneratia; but I cannot name it, nor even find a name that would be
applicable to it.-- March 29th A splendid new Michelia has just been brought to me,
with flowers larger than any I have examined, though not so large as the
Magnolia’s. Another plant, which has puzzled me, is a most remarkable
Cucurbitacea which I think is new. I sent a sketch of it to my father & will thank you
to look at it & ask Wallich if he can give me any information. It is very gratifying to
find that much notice is taken in India of my success among the mountains & I
have been unable to resist the entreaties of the Asiatic Society to publish some
little papers, which they have highly praised. Every person has come forward to
assist me; & the only return I can make,-- in the shape of extracts from my journal,- is all they seek. The willingness
[[4]] to contribute information is always graciously received.-- My desire now is to
explore the snows here more completely, & to give a clear idea of this part of the
Himalaya; both in itself, & relating, to what information I can obtain from other
parts. Hitherto, no one, except Mr. Hodgson, has treated any branch of the natural
history of the great chain in a comprehensive view. The Montes Himalayanio have
been talked of as if there were no other Himalaya than the North West; & all has
been considered as an inextricably confused mass of mountains, from the plains,
to Thibet [Tibet], this is by no means the case. Hodgson has lately made the first
step, in grouping, both its mountain masses, & river--systems, & thus dividing the
Range into sections longitudinally which will, each, form Botanical & other
provinces; & as we know more of the vegetation &c of each one, we shall be able
to reduce the Botanical Geography of the entire range, to some system, Mr.
H[odgson]. has also further adopted the triple division,-- according to elevation,-- of
Tropical, Temperate & Arctic;-- & I find the Botanical & Geographical limits of these
to coincide.-- Sikkim will form one province, with Kinchin for its culminant Peak &
the Teesta river; as its water--shed; & I have ascertained that its vegetation differs
most strikingly, from that of either Bhotan, or Nepaul [Nepal], in the range of many
of the species. This is peculiarly observable in its coniferous vegetation: we have
much fewer species; & they are restricted to far narrower limits:-- Our Tropical
Forest is much more extensive & ascends a great deal higher. Here, in Sikkim,
there are absolutely 8000ft. without a single Conifer; & the Taxus, which both in
the North West & in Bhotan descends to 6000ft. & prevails at 8000ft., is here
driven up to 10,000ft.- Pinus longifolea, is extremely scarce & while Deodara,
pindrow, excelsa, Smithiana & (wild) Cupressus, are quite absent, we possess,
instead, Brunoniana, & a larch,- the latter is rare and local. In Palms we are much
richer than Bhotan, or Nepaul,: we boast 8 species, besides a Cycas & Pandanus - Below 9--10,000 ft. we have no Cruciferae, Ranunculus, Saxifraga or Primula
whatsoever. A stupendous forest of Oaks, Magnolias & Lauri, reaches to
10,000ft.; where it is replaced for 2000ft. by Abies Brunoniana, & Webbiana; &
above, for 1000ft. comes a Rhododendron
[[5]] scrub, & above that, dwarf Juniper-- Pepper & Ficus, here ascend to 7500 and
8500 ft.! Telianthera to 9000ft. Cucurbitacea & Asclepiadea to 10,000; & various
other instances could be given of extraordinary elevation of Tropical genera, as
Calamus & Musa, to 6,500. In the vallies again, I have found Palms (calamus
&Licualia?) & Wallichia, growing with Oak, Pine & Cycas. & the India--rubber Fig.
Here there is no such thing as open sward, barren Hills, loose woods, or dry
banks; all of which prevail at various elevations in Bhotan & Nepaul, where various
European Genera, unknown in Sikkim, & extensive pine woods are found at all
elevations. I attribute this, mainly, to the more uniform humidity of Sikkim, which
follows upon the province being walled in, on all sides by lofty ridges, & having
only a single communication by valley, with the plains; & this, the exit of the
Teesta, is such a narrow gorge as to be impassable. Still more important, I think is
the fact, that the S[outh].E[ast]. Monsoon traverses little of the plains & no hills in
its course from the Sea to the Sikkim Himalaya. The same wind is drained by the
Khasya, before reaching Bhotan; & it traverses too, a greater surface of dry plains
& the Behar Hills, too, before impinging on Nepaul. On the other hand, infinitely
more rainfalls in Bhotan & Upper Assam than here; but in the former provinces it
descends in plumps, while in Sikkim we have an everlasting drizzle & fog:-- &
there also occasional dry blasts prevail, such as we never experience. I have been
reading Enmann’s Travels (in my bed) with great pleasure. I feel an extraordinary
craving now to visit Siberia & the W[est]. boundary of Chinese Tartary (Soongaria);
but perhaps, when I get home, I shall change my mind; or my intensions at any
rate, will not be allowed to run away with me. I wrote to W. P Edgeworth, soon
after landing in India, but he has never answered my letter; nor have I heard a
syllable about him since coming out. Falconer, you know, is going to Moulmein
[Mawlamyine]: I look upon his botanical days as over. Thompson is just offered the
appointment of deputy Opium examiner at Patna, £1200 a year, with a house & no
medical duty -- I send my kind remembrances to Mrs B[entham]., & my
compliments to Mr. Crawford, of whom I hear a good deal. Is it not strange, that
except Parochetus there is not one Leguminous plant, in this latitude, between
6000 & 10,000ft.? Erythrina & various arborescent species ascend to near 6000ft.
Winterbotham is somewhere in the N[orth].West; probably in Western Thibet [one
word deleted, illeg.] with one of the Stracheys, he is collecting, I hear, but like
Edgeworth, has not replied to a letter I sent him. Tell Wallich that an Irish lady here
asks a great deal about him. -- J.D. Hooker --
ENDNOTES
1. This letter is a copy, written in a hand other than that of the original author, JDH.
This copy was probably made by JDH's mother or sister.
2. The city formerly known as Calcutta is now called Kolkata.
Please note that work on this transcript is ongoing. Users are advised to study
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