Transcription:
2 traveller and climber has given me urgent invitations to go to him in India, and promises to show me the mountains, so
if my health permits I may after all get to Darjeeling c. I fairly hunger for the mountains and feel sure I should pick up
if I got within sight of the eternal snows. This year I have seen nothing beyond the snow clad hills (Lochnagar c) of Scotland
and was only in reality a day in real hilly country. I look forward with great pleasure to a letter from you after your arrival
at home and shall look out for your impressions 3 de voyage when published. I wrote Sir Joseph Hooker for a copy of Sir
William Hooker's life but he had none left. So I post with this my own copy - I can always refer to another copy at Kew if
I want to. L illegible Stephens' Playground of Europe also goes by this mail - I hope you will experience as much pleasure
in reading it as I did. Sir Joseph Hooker is apparently much better than he was in the early part of the year - I have not
seen him myself lately but he has been at work in the Herbarium and the reports given me of him are favorable. As for myself