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Hooker's expenses in Sikkim: an early Lepcha text

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 December 2009

R. K. Sprigg
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Extract

Some years ago I received from the India Office Library a xerox copy of a short document found at Kew among the papers of Sir Joseph Hooker, with an inquiry as to whether it was a permit for him to travel in Sikkim for the botanical research described in his Himalayan Journals (1854/1905). I knew enough Lepcha to be able to report to the India Office Library that the 42 lines of Lepcha script (romanized and translated at (II) below) were some sort of statement of accounts in East India Company rupees (kúm-pá-nyi kóm tsu; line 1); but I was not able to arrive at the sense of the text in detail until my present stay in Kalimpong again put me in touch with Lepchas, especially Mr. A. Foning, of the Kalimpong Lepcha Association, whose help it is a pleasure to acknowledge.

Type
Articles
Information
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies , Volume 46 , Issue 2 , June 1983 , pp. 305 - 325
Copyright
Copyright © School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 1983

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