Book excerpt: Francis Hamilton Buchanan (1762-1829) was a Scottish-born explorer, naturalist, and physician, employed by the British East India Company in a number of capacities from 1794 to 1815. He conducted surveys of Mysore in 1800 and Bengal in 1807-14. This work, published after his return to Scotland, is based on his 14-month stay in Nepal in 1802-03. Buchanan drew upon his own observations and conversations with hereditary chiefs, Buddhist priests, scribes, and others in an attempt to provide a comprehensive account of the country as he found it before the Anglo-Nepalese War of 1814-16. Buchanan also drew from an earlier work by Colonel William Fitzpatrick, An Account of the Kingdom of Nepaul, published in London in 1811. In addition to maps and engravings, Buchanan's book includes two noteworthy scientific supplements: a register of the weather from February 1802 to March 1803 and an attempt by Buchanan's colleague, Colonel Crawford, to calculate the height of several Himalayan peaks.