Show FROM HIMALAYAS JOURNALS I 1 BY J D HOOKERS HOOKER M X D we pass over dr hookers experience of the navigation I 1 of the gauges ganges and the traveling by dauka cituk I 1 cross across i the plains as not differing from that pf af other travelers On approaching the foot of the mountains he has to traverse that singular belt of country known as the he terai which ch is thus described Sn goree stands on oil the v verga erge of the terai that 1 low w r lal arious belt wit which skirts the base baie of the hima i aya va fr from or the sutley to brahma boond in up upper haine r A arcain r sd in every feature botanical geological and zoological is new on entering this district the change is sudden and immediate be sea and shore are hardly more con conspicuously differ different ev Z nor fram the edge of the terai to the limit of per etuale snow is any botanical region more clearly barked than this which is the r commencement ommen cement of Bima fayan vegetation A sadden descent leads to fo the river flowing in a shallow valley over a pebbly bottom it is a rapid river even at this season its lanks banks ara fringed with bushes and it is ai as clear and spark sparkling lini as a labat stream in Scot scotland laud be ditche alie road winds a thick brushwood choked with long grasses and with but few trees chiefly of acacia and a scarlet united I 1 the soil is a red friable clay and gravel at this sason only a few spring plants were were in flo flower V art amongst which a very very sweet sweat scouted scented As asphodel p bod e I 1 an fand d C were lu in the greatest profusion loaves leaves of terrestrial orchids appeared with ferns and woods weeds of hot damp reyam I 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 crossed tile beds of many some were dry and all very tortuous their banks were richly clothed with brushwood and climbers s of vines mircea leea ete and their pent up waters percolating the gravel bids beds ana partly carried ot off b evaporation oration the stratum of ever increasing vegetable mould must be one main a agent erit in the production of the ma larius vapors J a of thia pestilential region add to this the de odthe of the same amongst the herbage her bige the amount of vapor in the humid atmosphere above cheak checking liti the upward passage of that from soil the sheltered nature of the locality at the immediate base of lofty mountains and there appears to the me to be here all ail nee necessary e elements elu ments which combined will produce stagnation alid deterioration I 1 in an atmosphere loaded with vapor fatal as this di district is and especially to europeans a race inhabit it with impunity who if n numerous ido not owe their paucity to any clima climaC fc causes these are the often described f a squalid Cn unhealthy healthy people typical of the reg they frequent but who are in reality more robust than the Europ european eav in india and whose disagreeably sallow complexion complex y ian is deceptive as indicating a sickly constitution they are a mild inoffensive laople industrious for orientals Orient als living hy by an na ally barni burning ag the teral terai jungle and cultivating 01 1 it 1 p t ami thol tho so co sequestered aej iso they rither court than avoid I 1 intercourse woi wit b those whites whom they know to be kandl dh disposed posed I 1 after rising some six thousand feet on to th of the himalayas he looks back on to th burning plains of india before by s ae in mou 0 in the sec seclusion lasion of it I 1 lias ains and gives us the following interesting pic ure I 1 I 1 all around the hills rise up steeply five 0 or r six thousand housand feet clothed bif W a dense deep green gree u forest torrents rush down tile the slopes their heir position indicated 1 eo by the dipping of the forist into their beds or the occasional cloud of spray ifray rising above some more boisterous part of their heir course from the road and at a little distance above the view is really superb and very behind or north the hi himalaya a I 1 aya ise e in steep confused masses below te alie hill n which t stood and the ranges as far I 1 ar a as athe the eye an reach east arid add west throw spurs on to the lains of india these are very thickly wooded ind and in lose troad broad dead flat hot and damp valleys apparently P pArent ly covered with a dense forest 1 iry spurs of clay and gravel like that im mediately elow below rest on oil the bases of the moun ains I 1 and soom to form an intermediate neutral ground between flat and mountainous indict india the terai district forms a very irregular belt clothed and intersected by rivulets from the hills which u unite n ite ay and 0 agora divide op oin the flitt flat till emerging emergh lg region of a I 1 t they I 1 e enter p t t the be plit plains ns oua us c courses u 1 w h gt etsten sten uke tike silver the whole ole horizon is bounded by the sako sea uke ex pause of f the plains tins which stretch away into hito the PA f sunshine and aau fixie fine weather in one boundless I 1 I 1 flat ii the distance the courses of the deesta and bosi osithe t it 0 groat great drainers odthe snowy himalayas and id the recipients of innumerable smaller rills are with ith difficulty traced at this tb r y season he I 1 ocean beean like appearance of this sout southern berit view even more conspicuous it in the heavens thau than on the he laud land the clouds arri arranging ging theT themselves selves after a singularly se a scace p ape fashion fishio i endless strata run i in parallel ribbons ri lb u oer dyer I 1 the e extreme eitrem e horizon A above 0 these scattered cumuli also in horizontal lines ines are dotted aldust a cle clear r gray sky which gradually as tile the 0 eye y e is lifted passes into a deep cloud cloudless lesi blue vault continuously clear to the ze nith there the cumuli in white fleecy masses gain again appear till in the northern celestial hemis phere chere they thicken and assume the leaden hue of bimbi I 1 discharging their moisture on oil the dark for est st clad hills around the breezes are east erly aly bringing that va vapor or from the indian oce ocean u which is rarefied fied aap 1119 suspended aloft over the heated plains but condensed into a drizzle when it strikes the cooler flanks of tho the hills hill and into heavy rani when it meets their still kill colder ciler sum mits upen apen what a gigantic scale does nature here operate vapors raised raised from au all ocean whose nearest shore share is is in more ore than four hundred miles distant are safely transported without the loss of oue cue drop of water to support ort the ahe rank luxuriance of this far distant region this and other offices fulfilled the waste waters are returned by the cosi coal and deesta to the ocean and again exhaled exported expended recollected collected re and returned arrived at dr hooker passed the summer or rainy season of 1848 in making botanical collections collodi ons and meteorological observe I 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 is a a sanitary station established in 1 in the itle little state of tile the southern flank of the himalayas is parcelled par celled out between the states State of I 1 cabool cashmere erp the punjab nepal pa 1 I baotan and assam in in the punjab is all the hill station of simla nepal is independent an and d baotan is a dependency of tibet however is a small state due north of f calcutta and only miles distant diseati t from it the rajah of which wash was expelled by the ehor j kas has in ill 1817 aryl ana ren replaced laced by y tit the british ri djs h rovern arl ment m under whose P protection ro te cc jon he to has a s ever since existed in 1840 he ceded for per annum the previously b barren mountain tract of varying from to feet above the sas sea since nee that time it has changed from a wilderness to I 1 a populous and flourishing station the inhabitants having increased from to more than at dr hooker became the guest of mr hodgson a gentleman who has distinguished hims himself elf by the aids lie has given to natural history i i tit in various ways the view from iris his windows says dr hooker 1619 is one quite unparalleled for the scenery it embraces commanding confessedly the grandest known landscape of snowy mountains in the himalaya and hence in the world kinchin jun ga 45 miles distant is the prominent object rising the level of tile the observer ou out t of a sea of intervening wooded hill whilst on a line with its snows the eye descends below tile the horizon to a narrow gulf feet deep in the mounta mountains ius where the great wh white ite with foam threads th reids a tropical forest with a silver line to the north west toward the snowy peaks of kubra and junno respectively feet and feet rise risa over the shoulder of Sing ulelah whilst eastward the snowy moun mountains talas appear a to form an ail unbroken en range trending tre north east to tho the great nia mass as of feet and thence south anuth east by the fingered peaks of Tul ikola and the silver cone cane of chola feet gradually sinking into the baotan mounta mountains I 1 its at feet I 1 the most eloquent descriptions I 1 have read fail to co convey a vey to my minds eye the forms and colors of snowy towy mountains ot of to my imagination the sensations and impressions that rivet my attention to these sublime phenomena when they I 1 late are present in reality and I 1 llull not therefore obtrude any attempt of the kind upon my iny reader the latter hitter has probably ably seen the swiss alps which tw tho barely possessing half tile the sublimity extent or height of the himalaya are yet far mor moril beautiful in either eith e r case calse lie ho is struck with the precision and sharpness of their outlines and still more with the wonderful play of colors on oil tit their e ir snowy flanks fl inks from the glowing hues reflected in orange gold and ruby fron from i the clouds illuminated by the sinking or rising sun suit to the ghastly palo ahat succeeds with twilight when the red seems t to 1 0 give place 0 o its comple complementary complements menta ay color green such dissolving views elude all attempts at description I 1 they are far too aerial to be chained to I 1 the memory and fade from it so fist fast as to be gazed upon day after day with undiminished admiration mi ration and pleasure long after the mountains thom themselves selves have lost their sublimity and apparent lie height ht f tile the actual extent I 1 of the snowy range ra seen from mr Hodg sons window is com comprised within an are arc of 80 deg from north 30 dog deg west to north 50 de deg g e iest or nearly a quarter of the lie horizon lieg hog along which the perpetual snow allow forms an unbroken girdle or crest of frosted silver and in winter vin tor when the mountains monn lains are covered down to feet this white ridge stretches uninterrupted for more than deg no known view is to be compare compared d with this in extent when the tha proximity and height of the mountains a are considered for within the 80 deg above mentioned more than twelve peaks rise above feet ana there are none below 15 feet while kinchin is and seven others ers above the nearest perpetual snow is on nursing a beautifully sharp conical peak 19 feet high and 32 wiles miles distant the most remote mountain mounta 1 it seen i is a dan ki f 2 6 ft high and 73 70 miles distant whilst kisshin kinchin which forms the principal mass both for height and bulk is exactly 45 miles distant the aboriginal inhabitants of are lep clias alias described by dr hooker as a race marked ly Alon mongolian golian in feature and as si singularly lion Q able good tempered and anang in vest onest d con they are timi elul mar 1 8 hongly wi neighbors of uette UP tte a gorgias of ire P I 1 I 1 a are brave and warlike I 1 to a proverb fa a ti the to g bhutanese Bho ho tanese quarrelsome cowardly coward lv ana and cruel I 1 im I 1 31 J I 1 I 1 i next to the letchas Lep chas the most numerous tube tribe t 4 4 I 1 are the Lim boos who speak a totally different lart I 1 guage from that of the lop Lep letchas eras chas but in many respects are allied to them besides these are some scattered people called Moor mis and magras and the Mee meeli lill who are confined to the pestilential terai all these people are mongolian or indof f of the same great tace asce as the people of I 1 tibet Ar AX and the birman empire the Abor aborigines lorie or of india such as ti tho a coles the retreated to the mountain 41 fastnesses fast nesses of central india on the invasion of their luddo are now represented I 1 by the 8 never to have sought 10 refuge in the Hi dr hooker remarks on oil the singularity of six or seven tribes of people thus dwelling peaceably ab y within the small province of many of them but little above the degree of the savage flun under der a sovereign whose power was wholly unsupported by even the semblance of arms and d nd arted whose spi spiritual ritual supremacy wits acknowledged by few i they are all ostensibly and look up with reverence to the grand lama of tibet but they mingle with that religion not a little of their old wil wild superstition and the worship of i evil spirits is predominant among the letchas Lep chas on this point the following extract is instructive instruct t ive on the following morning we pursued a path to the bed of the river passing a rude monument a pile of state slate rocks with an attempt at the mystical hemisphere at top A few flags or ban banners nors and slabs of slate were inscribed with om oln mani om am placed on a jutting angle of the spur backed with the pitie pine clad hills and ranked flanked by a torrent on oil either hand the spot was waa wild and picturesque and I 1 could not but gaze with a feeling of deep interest on oil these emblems of a religion ioA which perhaps numbers more votaries vot aries than any other on the face of the glo globe be booda hism in some form is the predominating creed q I 1 A from siberia and to ceylon from the thet I 1 J 1 J I 1 I 1 0 caspian steppes to japan throughout china B bur u ll 7 maht Wah iAva ava aud and a part of the malayan archipelago its associations enter into lendry book of travels over these vast regions with boodea churma suard jos fo and praying I 1 W wheels heels the mind I 1 is arrested ar by the names i the E imagination captivated by the symbols and t tho hol I 1 could not worship s in tile grove it was wag impossible to deny to the in i stones such a tribute as is commanded by L he first glimpse of objects which have long been familiar to our minds but not previously offered to our senses my head bead le lepsha went further to a due observance of demon worship he united a deep reverence I 1 for the lamas and he venerated their symbols rather us as theirs than as those of their reli religion kion he walked round the pile of stones three times from left to right repeating liis his om mani 1 ac then stood before it with his head hung down and his long queue streaming behind and con chit 1 7 I 1 by a votive offering of three pine ccuen WI t N done he looked round at me nodded smirked elev elevated atea the angles of lils his little turn up eyes and seemed to think we were safe from all perils in the valleys yet to be explored dr hookers first long excursion from ingras into east nepal As the whole journey across steep mountain ranges and valleys val leyo it was necessary to proceed entirely on ro foot at and to I 1 have thirty porters to carry baggage and provisions to which the rajan of nepal added a guard of six soldiers and two officers the tolaf party mustered fifty six persons the journey occupied three months passed principally pilly ln fit exploring the 1 deep valley of the river up to its headwaters w aters on the borders of the tibet the rocks both here and out ar are described as principally paly mica chist almost invariably striking sti aking north west and dipping north east this strike anadio and dip may be token as certainly that I 1 of the foliation and perhaps |