The Press.
London, England, 1854-03-18 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

races, themselves unconquered, have estab-
lished their dominion from the Malaysian
Islands to the borders of Siberia, and founded
an empire which the present generation may
perhaps see overthrown. This religion, in its
popular form degraded, but pure and oven
philosophical in its origin, is still professed in
Ceylon, in Java, over the whole of China, in
the Asiatic Archipelago, in Burmah, in Siam,
and over great part of Southern India. It
has outlived the Mahometan assault of Timur ;
it has resisted the pacific persuasions of
Christian missionaries. Its most devoted fol-
lowers—as, from the absence of external coin-
munication, might be expected—are found
among the shepherds of the Tibetian and
Tartarian plains. To this sealed continent we
want to discover a road easier and shorter than
that which would lead us eastward from
Ladak ; and the road we want lies through the
scene of Dr. Hooker's labours. Hence their
geographical importance. He is one of the
first English pioneers in this quarter. May
others follow, and resemble him in energy and
success.

The expedition which these volumes record
commenced at Calcutta in January, '4B, and
ended in the spring of '5l, embracing a period
of rather more than three years. The travel-
ler's first visit was to Benares ; thence to Dor-
jiling ; next westward along the eastern bor-
ders of Nepaul, an excursion which lasted
until January, '49 ; a short tour in the Terai,
or low country at the foot of the hills, occupied
the rest of the winter; in May a journey into
Sikkim was attempted, which ended in the
detention and imprisonment of the party ; in
the course of the next winter ('49-50) they'
were released by the interposition of the Bri
tish Government ; and the last, or third, year
was taken up by a visit to Assam and Ultra
Gangetic India. Dr. Hooker, iu the course of
these wanderings, repeatedly ascended passes
ranging from 17,000 to 19,000 feet; and when
there fouud himself still nearly two miles
below the level of the highest peaks !
We have said that Dr. Hooker's style is
usually more accurate than graphic : he does
not describe, but defines. The following pas-
sage, however, contains an alpine picture
which it requires little imagination to realise in
all its native dreariness. He is speaking of
the village of Yangma, in Eastern Nepaul,
lying many days' journey in the mountains,
and at a height about equal to that of Monte
Rosa or the Jungfrau in Switzerland :
Near our camp (of which the elevation was 13,500 feet),
radishes, barley, wheat, potatoes, and turnips, were
cultivated as summer crops, and we even saw some on
the top of the terrace, 41X) feet above our camp, or nearly
14,00 k) feet above the sea; these were grown in small
fields cleared of stones, and protected by dykes.
The scenery, though dismal (no juniper even attaining
this elevation), was full of interest and grandeur, from the
number and variety of snowy peaks and glaciers all around
the elevated horizon, the ancient lake-beds, now green or
brown with scanty vegetation, the vast moraines, the
ridges of glacial debris, the flat terraces, marking, as it
were with parallel roads, the bluff sides of the mountains.
the enormous boulders perched upon them, and strewed
everywhere around, the little Boodhist monuments of
quaint, picturesque shapes, decorated with poles and
banners, the many-coloured dresses of the people, the
brilliant blue of the cloudless heaven by day, the depth of
its blackness by night, heightened by the light of the stars,
that blaze and twinkle with a lustre unknown in less
lofty regions ; all these were subjects for contemplation,
rendered more impressive by the stillness of the atmosphere
and the silence that reigned around. The village seemed
buried in repose throughout the day : the inhabitants
had already hybernated, their crops were stored, the curd
made and dried, the passes closed, the soil frozen, the
winter's stock of fuel housed, and the people had retired
into the caverns of their half-subterranean houses, to
sleep, spin wool, and think of Boodh, if of anything at all,
the dead, long winter through. The yaks alone can find
anything to do : PO long as any vegetation remains they
roam and eat it, still yielding milk, which the women take
morning end evening, when their shrill whistle and cries
are heard for a few minutes, as they call the grunting
animals. No other sounds, save the harsh roar and hollow
echo of the falling rock, glacier, or snow-bed, disturbed the
perfect silence of the day or night.
Between Sikkim and Tibet the passes are
terrific ; yet a considerable trade (if the re-
sources of the countries be taken into account)
is carried on along them. The breadth of the
snowy range, in direct distance, is only 50
miles ; but to accomplish the transit four
ridges must be crossed, all exceeding 15,000
feet. The utmost practicable speed would re-
duce the journey to ten long days' march; and
for men carrying loads the expedition lasts on

255

an average not less than a month! When it
is remembered that the entire circuit of Mont

Blanc does not occupy a week (Dr. Hooker
gays four days), a fair comparison may be in-
stituted between the European and Asiatic
alps.
Among minor obstacles to travelling in
these regions is the scarcity and insecurity of
bridges. Take this sample. Our author is
crossing the Tak-toong, iu Sikkim,
which rushes down at an angle of 15 deg., in a sheet of
silvery foam, eighteen yards broad. It does not, where I
crossed it, flow in a deep pulley, having apparently raised
its bed by an accumulation of enormous boulders; and a
plank bridge was thrown across it, against whose slippery
and narrow footbaards the water dashed, loosening the
supports on either bank, and rushing between their founda-
tion-stones. _

My unwilling guide bud gone ahead with some of the
coolies: I had suspected him all along (]kris unjustly)
of avoiding the most practicable routes ; but when 1 found
him waiting for me at this bridge, to which he stucastically
pointed with his bow, I felt that had he known of it, to
have made difficulties before would have been a work of
supererogation. He seemed tothink I should certainly turn
back, and assured me there was no other crossing (a
statement I afterwards found to be untrue) ; so, comforting
myself with the hope that if the danger were imminent
Meepo would forcibly stop me, I took allay shoes, and
walked steadily over : the tremor of the planks was like
that felt when standing on the paddle•box of a steamer,
and I was jerked up and down, as my weight pressed them
into the boiling flood, which shrouded we with spray. I
looked neither to the right nor to the left, lest the motion
of the swift waters should turn my head, but kept my eye
on the white jets d'eau springing up between the wood-
work, and felt thankful when fairly on the opposite bank:
my loaded coolies followed, crossing one by one without
fear or hesitation. The bridge was swept into the Lachen
very shortly afterwards.
- -

The climax of peril and difficulty was
reached in the ascent of the Donkia pass
(18,500), which gives entrance to Tibet from
the south. No verbal description can do jus-
tice to the sublime barrenness of this extraor-
dinary spot, which is admirably represented
in a lithographed view :
Before leaving, I took one more long look at the bound-
less prospect; and, now that its important details were
secured, I had leisure to reflect on the impression it pro-
duced. There is no loftier country on the globe than that
embraced by this view, and no more howling wilderness •
well might the t'ingtam Soubah and every Tibetan describe
it as the loftiest, coldest, windiest, and most barren country
in the world. Were it buried in everlasting snows, or
burnt by a tropical sun, it might still be as utterly sterile ;
but with such sterility I bad lung been familiar. Here the
colourings are those of the fiery desert or volcanic island,
while the climate is that of the poles Never, in the course
of all my wanderings, had my eye rested on a scene to
dreary and inhospitable. The ' cities of the plain " lie
stink in no more deathlike sea than Cholamoo lake, nor
are the tombs of l'etra hewn in more desolate cliffs than
those which think the valley of the Tibetan Arun.
From hence Kinchinjunga (28,000) was
clearly seen ; and an unknown range far to
the northward, of greater apparent height.
As far as could be judged, the country in that
direction is rocky, salt, and uninhabitable by
man or beast. According to the native ac-
count, there are two passes of greater altitude
than Donkia which must be crossed to reach
it. Headache and nausea are felt at these
heights, but none of the severer symptoms
sometimes described by travellers, such as
bleeding at the nose, ears, and eyes, which
Dr. Hooker evidently regards as imaginary.
Dorjiling, our author's headquarters in most
of his journeys, is likely to become a place of
importance. As a sanitarium its value is very
great to the parboiled inhabitants of Calcutta,
and it is more accessible than Mussoorio or
Simla:—
The statistical tables afford conclusive proofs of the
value of the climate to Europeans sufferiog from acute
diseases, and they are corroborated by the returns of the
medical officer in charge of the station. With respect to
its suitability to the European constitution I feel satisfied,
and that much saving of life, health, and money would be
effected were European troops drafted thither on their
arrival in Bengal, instead of being stationed in Calcutta,
exposed to disease, and temptation to those vices which
prove fetal to so many hundreds. This, I have been given
to understand, was the view originally taken by the Court
of Directors, but it has never been carried out.
I believe that children's faces afford as good an index as
any to the healthfulness of a climate, and in no part of
the world is there a more active, rosy, and bright young
community than at Doijiling. It is incredible what a few
weeks of that mountain air does for the India-horn children
of European parents: they are taken there sickly, pallid or
yellow, soft and flabby, to become transformed into models
of rude health and activity.
• • • • •
The following summary of hospital admissions affords
the best test of the healthiness of the climate, embracing,
as the period does. the three moat fatal months to Euro-
pean troops in India. Out of a detachment (105 strong) of
H. 24.80 th Regiment stationed at Dorjiling, in the seven