JACQUEMONT, Victor.

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Letters From India; First published in French the previous year, the year after Jacquemont's death. These letters to his family and friends were sent during a government sponsored scientific expedition to India. The books proved immensely successful, providing what Buckland describes as "a most vivid account … of the social condition of India in those days" (p. 220).Jacquemont (1801-32) was one of the founders of the Société d'Histoire Naturelle, worked at the Jardin des Plantes in Paris, and studied geology under Arago at the École des Mines. In 1827 he was invited by Pierre Louis Cordier of the Musée d'Histoire Naturelle to undertake a fully-salaried scientific expedition to India. Landing in Pondicherry in 1828, he proceeded to Calcutta, thence to Benares, Agra, and Delhi "and in the company of Lord William Bentinck arrived in 1830 at Simla" (Howgego). While there he joined the Gerard brothers in explorations of the passes leading to Tibet, claiming to have crossed into the country twice, and was encouraged by them to obtain permission to visit Kashmir.At Lahore, he successfully obtained audiences with Ranjit Singh who granted the necessary authority, and Jacquemont headed into Kashmir. "Unlike most of his contemporaries he made no attempt to disguise himself." Deserted by his porters, subjected to incessant heat, he was captured by a bandit adherent of Ranjit, Nihal Singh "who was desperately in need of a prestigious hostage." But so persuasive was Jacquemont that Nihal w

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