248 TO DARJILING : FIRST HIMALAYAN JOURNEY 
* 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 personahty that 
inspired confidence, and he placed himself under Hookers 
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 hke 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 Vvill, 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 tehs 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 vvorking 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 occurred.' 
1 ' Hod<^son's house is on a hill and amongst many other hills all 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 
diuinfr-room and parlour. There are lots of servants to go and come as I 
please to call or send, cats innumerable, and more " Pishop Barnabees " than at 
Kew and exactly like them. (To his sister Elizabeth, August 9, 1848.) 
