75 



DR. HOOKER. 



A GENUINE love of flowcis, and an ardent desire to enhance the value 

 and beauty of our already rich collections of exotic plants, tempted, 

 as most of our readers know, this distinguished traveller to visit the 

 hitherto almost unexplored Himalayas with a view to send plants 

 and seeds to Britain. The results of this great undertaking have 

 been eminently successful. Amongst other things, he has discovered 

 many magnificent new Rhododendrons, of which seeds and plants 

 have been received at Kew. Objects of natural history, as well as 

 several additions to our Orchidaceous plants, have also been received 

 from him ; and until lately he has been allowed to pursue his useful 

 and pleasing avocations without much molestation ; but our readers 

 will be sorry to learn that he and Dr. Campbell, an officer in the 

 East India Company's service, are now in the custody of a petty hill- 

 chief called Rajah of Sikkim. This information is derived from a 

 letter written by Dr. Hooker himself on the 12th November, and 

 superscribed, "All well, 24th of November," and which he contrived 

 to smuggle away by the fidelity of a servant, with a scanty hope that 

 it would be allowed to reach its place of destination, as it did, by the 

 Marseilles mail, which arrived on the 21st ult. The Southampton 

 mail, on the 2 6th, brought a part only of a letter of an earlier date 

 (Lachoong Valley, Oct. 25th, 1849), or rather two continuous let- 

 ters, but ending abruptly, giving an account of a visit to the plains 

 of Thibet ; from which the following brief extracts may prove of 

 interest. 



" We have spent four days in Thibet ! It was, however, a serious under- 

 taking, and required a combination of fortunate accidents, together with all my 

 previous knowledge of the country. It was again by the Lachen Pass that we 

 entered, and we met with a great friend in the Tcheba Jama, a man of intelligence 

 and vigour. Scarcely had we reached the Thibetan frontier, than I set spurs to my 

 pony, and galloped a-head, as far as possible, over the sandy plains, determined 

 to see all I could. The elevation of 17,000 feet made any rapid movement so 

 fatiguing, that my animal soon gave in ; and I was obliged to pursue my way on 

 foot up the Lachen, in an easterly direction, and at the back of Kinchin-jhow, 

 over sandy or stony dunes, interspersed with a little grass, tufts of nettle, Carex, 

 an Ephedra, and a thirsty-looking Lonicera, only a few inches high. 



" Proceeding north-east from Kongra Lama, I had long stony rolling moun 

 tains to the north and to the east ; while to the south, the stupendous snowy 

 mass of Kinchin-jhow rose almost perpendicularly from the sandy plains. As 

 the country was so traversable, I judged it best to follow the Lachen to its 

 source near the Donkiah Pass, which 1 wished to be, if possible, our return 

 route. 



" Late in the day I arrived at the Cholamo Lakes, within sight of the Donkiah 

 Phss, but with my pony so knocked up, that I had the greatest difficulty to drag 

 him after me. Here, however, I refreshed him with some tufts of green Carex, 

 and led him gently back, suffering myself severely from headache, caused by the 

 sun's intense heat ; for at this elcA'ation (nearly 18,000 feet) a slight amount of 

 exertion brings on headache. The evening was considerably advanced before I 

 met my friends. When we proceeded, a party of Chinese soldiers followed us, 

 their Ding pun (or Lieutenant) mounted on a black yak {Bos grunniens)! He 

 was surrounded with pots and pans, bags, bamboo-bottles containing butter-milk ; 



