JDH met Mrs [Archibald] Campbell and her children on their way from Monghyr on the Ganges to Darjeeling. He describes the way the family was travelling in Palkee's carried by bearers with their female attendants conveyed in suspended cages or chairs and the men running on foot. Along the road they rest at Bungalows erected for travellers by the government and at settlements it is customary for strangers to stay in the residents' homes and receive hospitality. Food in India is cheap, as are servants, but they are prone to breaking things. JDH enumerates all the servants [Brian Houghton] Hodgson has: over 20 for various purposes in his household and garden as well as a village full of people who cultivate the land badly but still get a wage. JDH discusses the health, appearance and affectionate nature of Mrs C's children. They gave JDH a palm wood walking stick which he will send to the [RBG Kew] museum. JDH has many letters & an account of his travels for the Asiatic Society to write.

No summary available.

JDH describes the history & religion of the Lepcha people to his uncle Palgrave: Sikkim aborigines with Mongolian origins. Compared to plains tribes of India, driven into the Himalaya, Vindhya and Ghat mountain ranges, they remain undisturbed. Lamaism is the Sikkim court religion. Buddhism was introduced from Tibet in 1400AD. Before that Lepchas worshiped spirits Kunchain & Junga after whom the mountain [Kanchenjunga] is named. Early Lepcha recorded history was destroyed in the Ghurkha [Ghurkha] war but monks say that Buddhist priests converted the Lepchas & extended the Sikkim territory from Teesta & Rungeet rivers to the Cosi [Kosi] & into Nepal to Tambar, driving out the Maghars. The vagrant Lepchas are under the control of the industrious immigrant Bhoteas from Tibet but still allowed to practice their own religion. The Buddhist clergy are influential, there are 20 temples in Sikkim with 800 priests & a few nuns. JDH describes the temples & other religious edifices & the figures of Buddha, Sakya, Rajahs, Lamas & other idols they contain. The oldest temples are Tapiding, Changachelling & Pemiongchi; uninfluenced by modern Hindu worship. JDH describes Chaityas, personal memorials, & Mendengs, inscribed walls, & illustrates the former. He describes the ways in which people worship & similarities & differences to the Roman Catholic Church. [Brian Houghton] Hodgson doubts anything is borrowed from Nestroian's Christians in Little Bucharia or later Jesuit missionaries. BHHH's Buddhist Researches appears in a pamphlet which Richardson of Cornhill has & there are also works by Lassen, Burnouf & Cousin. JDH has some inscribed slabs from the monks but they are just invocations, Lepcha histories are written on Nepal paper & JDH has one black sheet with gold writing, there may be more in the grand library at Lhasa or Dijaretie[?]. JDH mentions that the Lepchas have a deluge myth & the Himal has been under water since the tertiary epoch.

JDH has collected Rhododendron seeds at 13000 ft & will enclose seeds of a 13th species, the great white macrophyllum, in a letter to be sent by the 8th [April]. Other seeds sent include; acorns looked over by Hodgson, & chestnuts. When boxes arrive JDH will send; seedlings of Rhododendrons, a Primula, Palms drawings, seeds of a Calamus & 2 genera; Caryota & Calami. JDH says Wallichi Chamerops is not found in Darjeeling. JDH procured trunks of a species of tree fern at the foot of the hills, 1 dichotomous & plenty of specimens, also Beaumontia fully in flower, & cones of A. Brunoniana. JDH discusses Wallich, Griffiths & McLelland. JDH mentions he will speak to Falconer about fruit collected in Calcutta [Kolkata] & Palm Stems on his return. JDH & Hodgson have been reading Broomfield's letters in the L[ondon] J[ournal] B[otany] with great pleasure. JDH discusses how Ld. Auckland's death will affect his future prospects as Supernumerary Acting Surgeon in Borneo. JDH mentions: Ab[ies] Brunoniana, the Teta he believes is Bentham's Picrorhiza, & the Jatamansi he believes is Valeriana. JDH complains his servant Hoffman is inferior to Clamanze. Wight has sent JDH books in return for Flora Antarct[ica], & is sending WJH seeds as well as working up 22 species of Utricularia & putting them near Cyrtand[ra].JDH mentions: Jenkins, Balfour, Forbes, Wallich, Bentham, Brown & the coal fossil of E. Grey. JDH has a parcel of 20 species of dried Rhododendrons arriving in Calcutta before the next mail. Jenkins has heard of Lobb's arrival down the river. JDH is sketching the coniferous vegetation of E[ast] Nepal & Sikkim for the As[iatic] Soc[iety] Journal & LJB.JDH understands that Thomson has been offered the Opium Deputy Agency at Patna & discusses Dr Corbett's previous position there. He mentions Sir H Maddock & O'Shaughnessy in relation to the application process.