58 
REVIEWS. 
are so ably recorded in the pages of the present volumes. During their 
perusal, the observations of the venerable Baron Humbolt regarding their 
author was forcibly recalled to our recollection—“ What a noble traveller 
is Joseph Hooker !”*—writes the Baron to his father—“ what an extent of 
acquired knowledge does he bring to bear upon the observations he makes, 
and how marked with sagacity and moderation are the views which he puts 
forward.” After such a testimony from one so capable of appreciating the 
objects of our traveller’s research any attempt at criticism must appear 
indeed ridiculous; and we will, therefore, only endeavour to give such 
glimpses of the book as will make its perusal, we trust, desired by all 
who have not yet met with it, feeling assured that they will rise from it 
with the conviction that the time spent over it has not been wasted. 
Its author is no mere novice; he had long been known as an able ob¬ 
server, and, by habits of thought nurtured under the most favourable 
auspices, was peculiarly fitted for such an undertaking. Dr. J. D. Hooker 
had previously accompanied Sir James Ross on his voyage of discovery to 
the Antartic regions, where botany was his chief pursuit. On his return, 
prompted by a desire to carry his researches into other latitudes than those 
he was already acquainted with, after some hesitation he determined on pro¬ 
ceeding to India, being influenced in his choice by kind offers of assistance 
from Dr. Falconer, the superintendent of the Honourable East India Com¬ 
pany’s Botanic Garden, at Calcutta. 
Through the intervention of the Earl of Carlisle and the late Earl of 
Auckland, his journey assumed the character of a government mission, and 
£400 per annum was granted by the treasury for two years. Lord 
Auckland and Dr. Falconer both selected that portion of the Himalaya best 
worth exploring, recommending Sikkim as being ground untrodden by 
traveller or naturalist. 
Since the period of Turner’s embassy to Tibet, in 1789, no part of the 
snowy Himalaya, north-west of the British possessions, had been visited; 
and here it was highly important to explore, scientifically, a part of the 
chain which, from its central position, might be presumed to be typical of 
the whole range. 
Among our author’s earliest recollections in reading, we are told, were 
“Turner’s Travels in Tibet,” and “Cook’s Voyages.” The account of 
Lama worship and Chumulari in the one, and of Kerguelan’s land in the 
other, always took a strong hold on his fancy. It was, therefore, singular 
that Kerguelan’s land should have been the first strange country he ever 
Hooker’s Journal of Botany, iii. 21. 
