248 TO DAEJILING : FIEST HIMALAYAN JOUKNEY 



* in one of that nobleman's absurd fits of determination 

 to undo everything, good or bad, which Lord Auckland 

 had done,* he had retired in bad health to this lonely eyrie 

 on the edge of the mountain world he knew so well, in close 

 touch with the Asiatic travellers from the Buddhist cities of 

 Tibet. 



In Hooker he found a kindred spirit, a personality that 

 inspired confidence, and he placed himself under Hooker's 

 medical care as well as admitting him to his intimacy. From 

 June 1848 Hodgson's house was his home. It stood a good 

 800 feet above Hooker's first residence, Mr. Barnes' house, 

 ' and like Olympian Jove, I am daily surrounded with the 

 clouds,' for the rains had ' fairly set in, and it sometimes pours 

 for eight, ten, and, I am assured it will, for fifty or sixty hours 

 consecutively.' ^ He enjoyed its retirement, the opportunities 

 for uninterrupted scientific work, the personal charm of his 

 host, and the mine of information on all things Indian ever at 

 his disposal. 



We are working together every evening [he tells his 

 mother on June 23] at Himalayan and Thibetan Geography 

 and Nat. Hist., and though I say it myself, it is true that 

 I ought in a month or two to have a better knowledge 

 of these aspects of India than any man, having every 

 advantage that an excellent library and tutor can afford. 

 We are now arranging a sketch by which to divide the 

 range into natural sections [i.e. divided into districts by the 

 watersheds from the Monster peaks], each of which will bear 

 some illustrations from personal experience and books, and 

 this ground plan will do for others to work upon. ... I am 

 determined I will not leave off working till I have gained a 

 thorough knowledge of the subject. [And again] : Hodgson 

 ' is a capital helper,' and this stay with him ' the very best 

 chance for me that could have occm-red.' 



^ ' Hodgson's house is on a hill and amongst many other hills aU heavily 

 timbered, with plants through the wood and lots of new plants close to the 

 door. It is a one-storied house with a broad verandah all round, facing North 

 and the Snowy Mountains. I have two good rooms besides the run of the 

 dining-room and parlour. There are lots of servants to go and come as I 

 please to call or send, cats innumerable, and more " Bishop Barnabees " than at 

 Kew, and exactly like them. (To his sister Elizabeth, August 9, 1848.) 



