JDH writes from Lisbon regarding his journey, letter sent with one to Miss Henslow. Anticipates good passage as far as Sidon but plans after reaching Egypt are uncertain, he will stay close to G.G. [Governor General]. Discusses how grandfather has invested JDH's money & how to draw money from W. & T.[?] after arrival in Calcutta [Kolkata]. Letter arrived at Portsmouth containing letters of introduction for JDH in Calcutta. Suggests Miss Cracroft would be liked by his family & should visit Kew & wants to know what friends of hers he should visit in India. Mother to forward this information through Mrs Kendal. Reports on progress with V.D.L. [van Diemen's Land] plants to be sent home by Dr Salmon, not Miller, along with the with the Niger m/s [manuscript]. Provisionally calls the new V.D.L. cruciferous plant Bretonia. This & the Fagus called ‘gunnii’ from the m/s of Gunn’s trip should be checked by Pl[anchon?] to see if names are occupied & characters drawn up. Dr Richardson to be informed what ship the plants are sent on so he can send case of bottles by the same via steamer to Barnes. JDH to write again from Gibraltar with account of Lisbon.

JDH on his way to Calcutta [Kolkata] to ask Lord Dalhousie & Jung Bahadur together for permission to travel in Nepaul [Nepal]. Resting with cousin of Brian [Houghton] Hodgson's. Discusses Lobb & his collecting: Lobb has a Ward's case full of young Argenteum. Discusses Sikkim incident, Lushington & the General in detail. JDH has arranged & parcelled vast collections, some hundred men's loads. [Hugh] Falconer [HF] has informed JDH of the dispatch of some of his collections by the ship 'Queen' under Captain McLeod. The shipment incl. all of the 1848 collection & part of the 1847 collection incl. the leaf bellows, guns, wood cups & vast chest of museum articles. JDH has sent all his drawings of c.300 species & sketches, incl.fungi. Has drawn around 500 species & plants in total. Also sends a few dried plants chiefly Compositae from 17 to 19 ,000 feet. Tchuka rhubarb is amongst the drawings. Hopes WJH will publish Rhododendron series consecutively in 3 folios fascicules. Has descriptions ready for Apr Southampton mail. The Hodgsonia plate WJH sent is magnificent. If he goes to Nepal JDH hopes to send the desired anther drawing. Discusses telescope, actinometer & compass. Knows nothing of Boott & has not received his Ward's cases. Thomson is collecting Rhododendron dalhousiae, R. argenteum, R. punctatum[?], Orchideae & sundries. At JDH's request HF planted a few seeds of nearly all the Rhododendrons in Ward's cases for RBG Kew. Lord Hardinge writes craving Rhododendron & alpine seeds but JDH has none. Courtenay has left Lord Dalhousie. Also mentions Grey, G.G. [George Gardner], [Archibald] Campbell & Welby Jackson[?]. Discusses the reasons for & against going to Nepal incl. credit of being the greatest Himalayan traveller if he goes in by Sikkim & out by Kumaon. Would not go to Bhotan [Bhutan] without 500 men in front & behind him. Is overloaded with Sikkim politics.

JDH writes to present General Jung Bahadur Rahan [Rana] Prime Minister of Nepaul [Nepal], his brothers, & other members of the Nepaul mission. JDH is indebted to JB for his 1848 Nepal trip. JB is also a friend to [Brian Houghton] Hodgson, [Archibald] Campbell & [Charles] Thoresby. JDH asks that they are shown the Himalayan plants [at RBG Kew] & that WJH takes a drive with them from Kew Gardens to Richmond Hill. Captain Kavanagh accompanies the gentlemen & can make arrangements. JDH suggests Dr [Nathaniel] Wallich & Royle meet the party at the Gardens.

JDH writes to his Father, William Jackson Hooker, about plans for the coming year & proposed trip to Nepal. Jung Bahadur [JB], Prime Minister of Nepal, & Thoresby will travel to England & bring letters. JDH plans to leave Calcutta [Kolkata] for Dorjiling [Darjeeling] on 9 Apr with [Thomas]Thomson & travel by water to Sylhet the Khassya & Munnepore. Comments on the work of Falconer & Griffiths in the Calcutta Botanic garden. Describes affect on resources from selling the garden's timber cheaply. Describes work to replace turpentine paths with leading walks as at RBG Kew, to replant the wilderness, & to construct a Palmetum, Pandanetum, & Arboretum. They are restoring Wallich’s summer house in the Nepal Garden. Falconer is getting on well with orchideae. Thoresby & General JB will advise on proposed trip to Nepal. Lord Dalhousie, Colvile & others encourage the trip, & advise JDH to seek permission from the Woods & Forests Department. JDH asks WJH to consult Prof. Henslow, Mr Phillipps & Frances Henslow on subject. He would not be able to leave Nepal until 18 Nov 1851. He would leave Ceylon [Sri Lanka], go to Bombay [Mumbai] & catch a steamer in Jan. Asks WJH to speak to Sir H. Willock, Royle & Wallich regarding Thomson’s furlough. Reminds WJH to thank Cecil Beadon for opium things. JDH criticises Bellenden Ker. Reports the Larch & Rhododendrons are successful but many died in the heat. His map of Calcutta is at the Surveyor General's & will then be sent to WJH. JDH's collections will be sent in Jan. He is angry not to be on the Athenaeum committee & will join the Oriental instead. Reports safe arrival of copies of RHODODENDRONS OF THE SIKKIM HIMALAYA & his Journal.

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On returning from Calcutta [Kolkata] JDH is arranging his journey to Sylhet with Thomas Thomson [TT], travelling from Dulalgunge [Dhaulgani], Titalyah, to the Ganges via Malda, Gour & Rampore. Then to Dacca [Dhaka] & up the Soorma to Pundua in the Khassya Hills which they will ascend from Pundua to Churra [Cherrapunji]. JDH will send 40 baskets of Orchideae to Calcutta. JDH is waiting for glazed cases to arrive to transport his collections of Rhododendron dalhousieae, punctatum & argenteum. Sent with Booth's things to the Garrows [Garos]. Discusses Lobb's character. JDH sent his father, William Jackspm Hooker, a packet of Larch seeds. His are growing well in open air, & discusses Jock Smith's technique. JDH can only collect Orchideae. JDH spent two days at Cathcart's, discusses Cathcart's collection of Dorjiling [Darjeeling] plants & his team of artists. JDH has a dried herbarium specimen of Plectocomia. He has enclosed a raceme & wishes the Benthams to look at it. JDH thinks it is Uriceous family. JDH has decided against Nepal, despite Lord Dalhousie asking him not to give it up. Telescope & Actinometer are safe. JDH expects to leave on Wednesday & arrive in Pundua in 20 days.

JDH describes his journey so far with Thomas Thomson [TT]. They have collected species of weeds, & fruiting branches of Calamus for RBG Kew. Discusses identification of plants with Martius & Griffiths descriptions. Lists species collected: C. rotang of Roxburgh, C. fasciculatus, rose of Bengal, R. involucrate. JDH sent 40 baskets of Orchideae & Rhododendron plants from Rampore to Bell in Calcutta [Kolkata]. Many plants died in Calcutta Gardens, including Jock Smith’s. JDH recommends a cool frame to grow them in England. JDH left larches at Darjeeling growing well, but sent all Rhododendron to Falconer. Comments on Thwaites’ new position [at the Ceylon, now Sri Lanka, Botanic Garden]. JDH suggests [George] Gardner neglected the gardens for the dried specimens. Discusses Thwaites’ plan for a collection of Cinghalese plants. Discusses Lord Torrington’s character. Describes sketches from Cathcart he is sending to Fitch in London: one of Kinchinjunga [Kanchenjunga] & the range around it from Major Crommelin, & a scene of a tree fern & Caryota with K[anchen]junga behind. Mentions the death of Mrs Turner. JDH expresses doubt about identification of R. thomsoni B. JDH hopes the dry specimens will allow Fitch to draw them. Discusses naming a plant after Strachey. Commends Dalzell's descriptions. Briefly mentions Cape Comorin [Kanyakumari] & Bombay [Mumbai]. JDH is disappointed African teak is not a Vitex. Discusses changes at Woods & Forests Department & Lord Seymour's appointment. Tells WJH of Mr Francis, an Assistant Surgeon in the East India Company, who claimed to know botany, this JDH found to be false. Cathcart began a drawing of Helen Campbell but failed to finish.

JDH describes journey from Dacca [Dakha] to Cherrapoonji [Cherrapunji], compares landscape & weather en route to that of the Ganges & Mahanuddy. Lists species collected: (Ceratopteris) Parkeria, Aeginetia (pedunculata), Euphrasia. JDH left the Soormah at Chattuk & visited Mr Harry Inglis. Describes mountains of Khassya. Collected in swamps & river banks in Pundiah. Received supplies from Falconer: brown paper, boxes, stopper bottles, spirits of wine. Travelled from Punduah to Terrya Ghat by elephant & boat to begin ascent to Churra. Compares scenery to Himalaya, Brazil & Sikkim hills. Lists plants: Areca Palm, Rubiaceae, Apocyn., Euphorbiaceae, Pandanua, Phyllanthus, Eurya, Antidesma, Bamboo, Vaccinium, Rubiaceae, Cleyera, Viburnum, Crotalaria, Camellia, Uvaria, Photinia, Olea, Vernonia, Callicarpa, Premnia, Helicia, Saurauja, Fig, Acacia stipularis, Symplocos, Sethia, Eriocaulon, Polygona, grasses, Cyperaceae, Hypercium, Habenaria, Murdannia, Burmannia, Cyanotus, Haloragis. Describes landscape including Tipperah, Khassya, Sylhet, & compares flooded land to Purneah in Darjeeling. Describes rainfall, native tombs, & compares land to England & Scotland. Explains housing arrangements, collectors & carriers employed, & expenses. Discusses problems of transporting tropical specimens, lists those collected: palms viz Calamus, Wallichia, Chamaerops, Areca, Caryota urens, Hodgsonia, Roxburghs. Comments on opening herbarium to public. Refers to Courtenay & giving Bellenden Ker Rhododendrons. Asks about seeds sent to WJH. Hopes Bentham & Wallich will write about Wight’s work on Icones in Calcutta [Kolkata] , Neilgherries [Nilgiris?] & Madras. Mentions Lobb’s dried specimens & behaviour. Mentions next journey via Surureen to Myrong. Requests Tassin’s map of Eastern Bengal from Wylds, Arrowsmith, or Mr Melville. JDH's Illustrations are all botanical he has had no time for geological drawings. Mentions Captain Cave’s watercolours. Requests volume of De Candolle.

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JDH hopes to be at Aden tomorrow. On arrival at Alexandria 4 Dec Ld Dalhousie insisted he belong to his suite in future. Left Alexandria on Sunday for Cairo. Travelled with Captain Henderson & officers using Transit Offices steamer along the Makmoudea [Mahmoudieh] Canal, discusses the canals construction & death of many Egyptians. Describes landscape, mentions Tamarix, Dates, Acacias, Cyprus & Myrtle. Switched to a pleasure packet steamer placed at their disposal by Mehmet Ali [Muhammad Ali]. Describes luxurious fittings in the part for Lord & Lady Dalhousie. The rest of them: including the Prime minister of Egypt, messed on deck in little cabins with simple facilities. Describes the Nile as about as broad as the Thames at Kew, mentions reading Bruce's and Salt's travels in the past. River banks are cliffs of mud showing successive layers of deposited soil to which Egypt owes its scanty vegetation. Saw lonely Arabs, Dromedary, tents, & donkeys. Beyond river banks wide spread uninhabited sand deserts. Irrigation attempted here & there, houses rare & always built near trees. Numerous boats such as figured in Bruce's journey. Describes first glimpse of the Pyramids & Cairo. Few miles before the town are Mehmet Ali's country gardens and Palaces of Shoobra [Shubra]. Thinks the Leicester Square Panorama gives an admirable idea of Cairo's location. During Cairo stay visited Ali Pasha's Rhoda Gardens but on the whole disappointed & outlines the difficulties of an exotic garden in Egypt. Mr Traill received him very cordially & showed him the gardens which JDH briefly describes. Letter continues Aden 19 Dec. Describes Aden as wonderful, bleak & barren. Dr M[?] has gone to Bombay for good & is now at Scinde [Sindh]. The bulbs JDH would have are not above ground & everything but Capparis, & a few other things are burnt up. He has sent Lord Auckland's parcel of seed onto Bombay [Mumbai].

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JDH is travelling again. He has written to Humboldt, who mentioned JDH in his ASPECTS OF NATURE. JDH has received letter from WJH reporting safe arrival of his collections & also letter from Jock Smith on progress of Rhododendrons. JDH is collecting seeds for WJH as well as tree ferns, incl. three Alsophila & one with the coriaceous frond pinnate of Blechnum. He does not have much seed of Taenitis. [Hugh] Falconer [HF] informed JDH that Colvile was ill but recovered, however [Archibald] Campbell wrote that [Brian Houghton] Hodgson is still sick & his mind 'out of order'. JDH is now east of China & adding a lot to his collection, especially grasses, ferns & Orchideae with the recent addition of some Labiatae & Compositae & the expectation of Nepenthes. He has found a Geniosporum that smells of Patchouli & a Plectranthus patchouli that doesn't. HF says Kashmir shawls are scented with Kortus not Patchouli. The last Kew Annual JDH has is from Feb. JDH will send two Podostemon spp. He discusses Triurideae with reference to Mier's paper & Gardner & Lindley attributing them to Naiads or Smilacineae based on the characteristics of their albumin. JDH has found Nymphaea & Griffith's floating Eriocaulon in marshland but not his Hydropeltis. He mentions the presence of oaks. JDH writes about Jung Bahadur [Prime Minister of Nepal]: his character & expectations of meeting the Queen, & the tendency of 'orientals' to kill family members to gain positions of power. JDH asks about the distribution of Griffith's collections. He questions whether WJH has confused two species of Balanophora with the two sexes & a third with Phaeocordylis.

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No summary available.

JDH has been in Chittagong about a week & been welcomed by Mr Sconce, a judge & relation of [Thomas] Thomson [TT], & by the Latours who are civil servants. Sconce grows coffee, tea & pepper & makes bandages from Callicarpa bark. For the museum JDH is sending: articles made of common Mura at the convent, Gurjan oil made from Dipterocarpus, & curious items from Sylhet. En route to Chittagong JDH stopped at Noakolly at the mouth of the Megna & stayed with Dr Baker, a wealthy man on the Government Salt Commission. Baker's wife knows about Suffolk & Halesworth & remembers JDH as a baby. JDH has not received WJH’s letter about Ceylon [Sri Lanka]. TT goes home by the Feb Steamer, JDH may go with him or to Arracan [Arakan, Burma]. Maria told TT's sister WJH had been ill. JDH has declined Colvile's offer to go to Nepal as physician to Lord Grosvenor. JDH is disappointed there is no maritime vegetation in Chittagong, no Mangrove, Avicennias, Rhyzphora [Rhizophora] or even herbaceous salt water plants other than Ipomoea pes Caprae. Inland there is hill & forest vegetation & JDH & TT have collected 300 species in the scrub near the station incl. Linastoma, Memecylon, Rubiaceae, Jasmine & Calamus. Further inland they hope to find palms. The only person in the area interested in plants is Mrs Captain Mathison, formerly Miss Chapman, daughter of a naval officer at Lowestoft. It has been a long time since JDH got any botanical news. Reeve has asked, secretly, for names of people who will subscribe to a lithograph of [William] Tayler's portrait of JDH. There was bad weather on the voyage from Sylhet, some dried Orchideae were damaged but JDH is used to this after Sikkim & is trying to recover them. JDH will write to WJH by the Marseille mail.

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JDH describes his journey toward Ceylon [Sri Lanka] via Egypt, Suez, Red Sea & Aden. Writes of his time Cairo & the agriculture, vegetation & landscape of the region, the only trees are date palms, Acacia lebbek & Sycamore figs. Enumerates species seen on visit to Rhoda Gardens with Mr Traill, discusses problems of having this garden on an island in the Nile & recommends WJH read Traill's account in GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. Also writes observations of: visit to Fojal Forest with officers of the Sidon; the Pyramids; Cairo Pass tombs visited with the Governor General; fossil forest in the limestone desert; vegetation outside Cairo, mainly Capparideae, Zygophyylleae, Rutaceae & Hyoscyamus; dining with the with Consul General, a brother of Capt. Murray RN. Describes transit from Aleaxandria to Suez at the Pasha agents' expense. Ld & Lady D travelled by Barouche, vans transported Dr Bell, Jane, Courtenay, Capt. Henderson & various servants on roads the Arabs are bribed to maintain, Colocynth [Citrullus colocynthis] the only plant. Describes views of Red Sea & Sinai & the sterile landscape around Suez. At Suez met Col Heaney & son, Matilda Rigby & husband. Sailed down Red Sea in the 'Moozuffer' under Captain Ethersley. Sargassum prevalent at about latitude 20, describes islands passed. Boatswain killed. Saw conferovid plant described by Montagne in the ANNALES TRICHOSEMINA RYTHREENA. Passed Mocha & Strait of Babel Mandeb before arriving at Aden. Discusses wind phenomena & saltiness of Red Sea. Describes Aden volcano as resembling St Helena but even more barren than Green Mt in Ascension. Shore wooded with Acacias, Dates, and Mangroves. G.G. wants reports on tea districts of India. Assam did not enter into JDH's calculations. Also includes a printed black and white illustration entitled: ADEN "THE GIBRALTAR OF THE RED SEA".

No summary available.