Autograph Letter Signed

This well-known English barrister was son of William James Chaplin (1787-1859), "perhaps the greatest coach proprietor that ever lived" who saw that railroads would destroy the coaching business and became an executive with the London and South Western Railway, a Member of Parliament from Salisbury (1847-57). ALS, 4pp (lettersheet), 5¼" X 8¼", "on board S.S. 'Java'" (likely Indian Ocean), 24 August 1873. Addressed to John. Very good. Thin, rather delicate onion-skin paper, with a few small archivally mended separations along original folds and a couple spots where iron-gall ink has burned through. Interesting travelogue of a lengthy tour through India (truncated) and nearby parts, reading in part: "I will only begin with you from my second pleasant trip from Lucknow with Sir Henry Tombs the General in command who took me out to Nepaul to look for tigers. We had 56 elephants and a huge camp but only saw four tigers and a leopard (besides deer etc) which we bagged in safety. By the way, the skin men utterly spoilt my best tiger by burning large holes in it with lime or something. Well we had to give up and come back to Lucknow and thence up country to Umballa & 40 miles in carriage & 40 on a pony up to Simila [Shimla] in the Himilayas when the Government are all the summer. I had good fun then as Ld. Northbrook remembered me as a boy and gave me a sort of carte blanche for dinners.... I went down again to the plains & by Lahore and... horses for 170 miles up to Rawul Pindee for a few days (so hot) & on with my company kit to Murru a hill station on the N.W. frontier. Thence I marched for six days over the mountains and came to the valley of Cashmere or the Happy Valley and wandered about up and down minor valleys and over snow passes for several weeks. It taught me a deal of Hindoostanee and also how to bargain with these rascals. One fine day I rode round the troops with the En[glis]h resident & the Maharajah of Cashmere about 8000 in single file all drawn up in a hollow square. Most curious things to buy and ruins to see of thousands of years standing. I had to cut my stay short however & came down in the rains (was nearly washed away) but reached the plains in safety & got down to Lahore by July 23d. Thence to Delhi & Agra with very curious [?] and well worth seeing. I was wonderfully lucky in the weather & found it cool in comparison to what it has been then back to Lucknow, Benares & Calcutta.... The 9th Corps saw me going down the Hooghly and so to Rangoon the capital of Burmah. It lies low & they have 170 inches of rain during the year. That makes everything very green and nice looking. Most luxurious vegetation they go in for there. Then on to Moulmain in Burmah where they are great at rice mills and sawing m[ills]. In the latter they use elephants to swing huge trees & logs & it is a wonderful sight to see the way they do work -- Lifting up & placing logs 2 or 3 tons weight anywhere and squaring the ends exactly as they [?] one on the other! We have now run down the coast and are leaving Penang. An island with a large mountain on which they grow coffee & no end of cocoa nuts. Some very nice fruit also are found here. I hope to stop at Malacca & Singapore.... Thence by first steamer to Hongkong & up China to Japan & so across to San Fco. whence I hope to receive orders from Mr. Norton or some one else. I hear he and the ladies are having a high old time in England and are making an impression.... I think the November should see me in N.Y. as I got a telegram from Sir John saying 'hurry up' in other words...." Intriguing and cryptic -- it's unclear whether Chaplin made this lengthy journey for business or military or other reasons, but it's clear he was well connected -- knew all the right people to facilitate a Grand Tour. Quite remarkable contents and worth further research. Accompanied by a second Chaplin signature, a corner-clipped 4½" X 3½" slip on which unknown hand pens large and bold "Autograph Signature of / [Chaplin signature] / New York, November 6th 1872" in brown ink. Very good. Mounting traces on verso. Perhaps penned at the start of Chaplin's lengthy expedition? (Inventory #: 46779)