- THE HIMALAYAN OBJECTIVE 251 
The supreme objective of the Himalayan journey was to 
reach the snows. Between these and the deep, humid valleys 
of the lower Sikkim lay a whole botanical world, with a range 
equal to that from the tropics to the pole. There also lay the 
secret of the Himalayan geography. It was still generally 
believed that the vast line of snow peaks on the northern 
horizon formed a continuous ridge, the axis of the chain and 
the water-parting between India and the Tibetan plateau, in- 
stead of being but bastions at the southern end of cross ridges 
projecting from the true dividing range. From one of the 
icy passes in this region traversed by the traders from Lhassa 
there would be the possibility perhaps of entering, at least of 
surveying, the forbidden land and determining in this quarter 
the elevation of the great central plateau. 
Travel itself would not be easy. The rude paths, alter- 
nately plunging into deep valleys and scahng precipitous moun- 
tain spurs 5000 feet or more, only to descend again, were con- 
stantly liable to destruction by torrential rains and mile-long 
landshdes ; rushing streams had to be forded or crossed on 
frail bridges of swinging bamboo. Forests where a way had 
to be pushed or hacked through dense vegetation pestilent 
with leeches and noxious insects, would be exchanged for 
bare rocky defiles at breathless altitudes where only a few 
poverty-stricken herdsmen lived and where the Indian carriers 
suffered from the fierce winds and freezing nights. But the 
greatest difiiculty arose from the political situation. No place 
could be better than Darjiling for acquiring information from 
native travellers, but as regards permission for a European 
to travel, he writes on April 28 : 
I fear that even Lord Dalhousie's influence will not enable 
me to accom_plish my wish of visiting the snows. I have 
written to him, however, on the subject. 
The much involved situation is set forth in a letter to Lady 
Hooker, June 10, 1848 : 
My prospects of visiting the snow are somewhat faint. 
The Sikkim Eajah, whose territories were once the prey of 
the Nepalese, was replaced on his throne by us, who thus 
