260 TO DAE JILING : FIRST HIMALAYAN JOURNEY 
A better opportunity, however, came before long (August 9) : 
Falconer has kindly sent me four cases of books, soldered 
in tin, by Post free ! This is the only way of getting them 
safely now. They are De Candolle, Walpers, Kunth, and 
Royle. This week of hooks and plants has been perfect 
revelry. I find that my Rhododendrons are nearly all 
(perhaps they all are) new. 
' My life here,' he tells his sister (September 28), ' is sufiti- 
ciently monotonous to hear of, but far from so to me, my 
collections increasing very fast indeed, and never having a 
moment to spare.' Except for recording barometer, ther- 
mometer, wdnd and w^eather every hour, all the dayHght 
hours were spent in writing and drawing and arranging plants. 
The plants generally came in at eight or nine in large baskets 
on men's backs. These Hooker always ticketed himself with 
the native name and any known quaUty or use, laying aside 
those he wished to draw and examine, and giving the rest 
over to be dried and the roots to be packed in moss. The 
perpetual wet forbade much going out. A recorded rainfall of 
twenty-one inches in July was perhaps nothing much for India, 
but it is like the diii'erence between Glasgow and Edinbm'gh 
which I could never make Papa believe, that Edinburgh has 
more rain than Glasgow, though in the latter it is expended 
in a constant drizzle, in the former in a few downright showers. 
Yet his health was perfect, ' living so regular a life in so 
salubrious a vile cHmate, far worse than Glasgow,' and ' here, 
in this dear delightful double-distilled Greenock fog, we know 
not what a headache is.' 
Scottish recollections happily fill in the picture of Sunday 
morning at Darjiling which he drawls for his sister Elizabeth 
(August 9, 1848): 
There is a church here but out of repair and the Parson, 
who is a visitor, gives service in a large room. This reminds 
me of Helensbm^gh, the majority of the congregation being 
made up of salt water looking people with faded bonnets 
and thick shoes ; very few people attend, including a school 
