DELAY AND HUNGER 295 
till sufficient supplies arrived, though both wet and hungry, 
learning the difference between a fowl and' a chicken — ' of the 
latter I eat bones and all, of the former I cannot.' Hunger, 
he also declared, made it a special martyrdom to science when; 
instead of eating a curious fruit called Gundroon, a polite 
present from the Eani, he put some aside to be sent to Kew.^ 
Four weeks were spent up the Zemu, trying vainly to reach the 
head of the valley and the clearer Tibetan skies ahead, for the 
report of a pass in that direction was probably a deliberate 
blind- Large collections were made, for the grassy hills 
swarmed with rare plants, and were sent down the valley to 
be dried. Even so, the persistent wet destroyed much, and 
he laments to his father : 
Alas, one of my finest collections of Rhododendrons sent 
to Darjeeling got ruined by the coolies falling ill and being 
detained on the road, so I have to collect the troublesome 
things afresh. If your shins were as bruised as mine tearing 
through the interminable Rhododendron scrub of 10-13,000 
feet you would be as sick of the sight of these glories as 
I am. 
It was a rough time, but produced no ill effects, though 
a hole in the rock or a shed of leaves is very often my 
residence for days, and my fare is just rice and a fowl, or 
kid, eggs, or what I can lay my hands on— no beer or 
luxuries. 
The great encouragement was that no other explorer had 
seen so much of the unknown Himalaya, or with results to 
be compared with his. 
On the 28th and 29th came the Phipun's attempt to hustle 
him off with a rabble of threatening followers, which Hooker, 
supported only by his dog. Kinchin, entirely disconcerted by 
a show of unconcern, backed with plain speaking. 
At the first alarm the coolie headman, Nimbo, Hooker's 
one courageous follower, took three lads with him down the 
1 Dispjrros Kaki, Linn. The note by Hooker with the specimens in the 
Kew Museum is as follows : ^ Fruit called Gundroon by the Bhotheas. Good 
eating dried in this state. Imported to Sikkim from Lhassa.' 
