Himalayan Journals — Complete: Or, Notes of a Naturalist in Bengal, the Sikkim and Nepal Himalayas, the Khasia Mountains, etc. — John Shaqi
Himalayan Journals — Complete: Or, Notes of a Naturalist in Bengal, the Sikkim and Nepal Himalayas, the Khasia Mountains, etc.Hooker, Joseph Dalton
History
Himalayan Journals — Complete: Or, Notes of a Naturalist in Bengal, the Sikkim and Nepal Himalayas, the Khasia Mountains, etc.
Hooker, Joseph Dalton
Himalaya Mountains -- Description and travel; Natural history -- Himalaya Mountains
Dr. Campbell, the Superintendent of Dorjiling, is likewise the
Governor-General’s agent, or medium of communication between the
British Government and the Sikkim Rajah; and as such, invested with
many discretionary powers. In the course of this narrative, I shall
give a sketch of the rise, progress, and prospects of the Sanatarium,
or Health-station of Dorjiling, and of the anomalous position held by
the Sikkim Rajah. The latter circumstance led indirectly to the
detention of Dr. Campbell (who joined me in one of my journeys) and
myself, by a faction of the Sikkim court, for the purpose of obtaining
from the Indian Government a more favourable treaty than that then
existing. This mode of enforcing a request by _douce violence_ and
detention, is common with the turbulent tribes east of Nepal, but was
in this instance aggravated by violence towards my fellow-prisoner,
through the ill will of the persons who executed the orders of their
superiors, and who had been punished by Dr. Campbell for crimes
committed against both the British and Nepalese governments. The
circumstances of this outrage were misunderstood at the time; its
instigators were supposed to be Chinese; its perpetrators Tibetans; and
we the offenders were assumed to have thrust ourselves into the
country, without authority from our own government, and contrary to the
will of the Sikkim Rajah; who was imagined to be a tributary of China,
and protected by that nation, and to be under no obligation to the East
Indian government.
With regard to the obligations I owe to Dr. Campbell, I confine myself
to saying that his whole aim was to promote my comfort, and to secure
my success, in all possible ways. Every object I had in view was as
sedulously cared for by him as by myself: I am indebted to his
influence with Jung Bahadoor[4] for the permission to traverse his
dominions, and to visit the Tibetan passes of Nepal. His prudence and
patience in negotiating with the Sikkim court, enabled me to pursue my
investigations in that country. My journal is largely indebted to his
varied and extensive knowledge of the people and productions of these
regions.
[4] It was in Nepal that Dr. Campbell gained the friendship of Jung
Bahadoor, the most remarkable proof of which is the acceding to his
request, and granting me leave to visit the eastern parts of his
dominions; no European that I am aware of, having been allowed, either
before or since, to travel anywhere except to and from the plains of
India and valley of Katmandu, in which the capital city and British
residency are situated.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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