This thesis examines how British travellers experienced the Indian climate
and landscape in, from and through three vehicles: the palanquin, the elephant
and the railway. Much historical study has approached Western experiences
of tropical nature with what this thesis calls a 'sedentary perspective';
that is, by studying the individuals, the sites and the representational practices
connected with observant travel. The most obvious aspect of such travel
– the mobility of soldiers, merchants, administrators and tourists – has been
comparatively neglected. Travel in India, rather than merely connecting
events across the expanse of the journey, was a significant space of experience
and the mode by which travellers encountered their surroundings. This
thesis argues that specific mobilities engendered distinct relations between
the perceiving subject and the environment perceived. Means of transport –
the palanquin, elephant and railway – were also means of observation, shaping
the experience of landscape, ideas of tropical nature and the traveller as
subject
