CHAPTEE XIV 



THE SECOND HIMALAYAN JOURNEY 



IT was now too late to proceed to the Hills -of Assam, where 

 the healthy winter season would soon be over. This was small 

 disappointment. The other mountains south of the Ganges, 

 which had so charmed him the previous April, had lost all their 

 attraction now that he had seen the veritable Himalayas. 

 Moreover Hodgson laid stress on the simple fact that it was 

 better to explore one district thoroughly than to wander. He 

 resolved therefore to stay at Darjiling, where Hodgson's society 

 and library, Muller's scientific aid, and Campbell's zealous 

 interest, were strong inducements to a man who aimed at 

 being something beyond a collector and tourist, and to follow 

 up his success on the west of Kinchinjunga by an expedition 

 to the east of it the next summer, completing the botany and 

 sending home young plants and especially seeds, of which he 

 writes to Sir William, 



I have done my best to give satisfaction. I stayed at 

 13,000 feet very much on purpose to collect those of the 

 Ehododendrons, and with cold fingers it is not easy at the 

 ripening season, December, to collect those from the scattered 

 twigs, generally out of reach. (March 27, 1849.) 



As to getting the seed of E. Dalhousiae, there was a further 

 difficulty, 



for you cannot see the plant on the limbs of the lofty oaks 

 it inhabits, except it be in flower, and groping at random 

 in the woods is really like digging for daylight. . . . You 

 must remember it is no light work to be the pioneer of these 



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