ABSTRACT
This chapter surveys the archival material available for the study of non-European roles in Kirkpatrick and Kadir Khan's expeditions, in relation to the historiographical challenges of reading those voices and agency within accounts that feature elements of Orientalism. It showcases the different ways in which Kirkpatrick's fortunes and observations were directed to a great extent by such agency: in determining the expedition's undertaking, in setting parameters of experience on the journey, and in the Nepal Valley. Marginalised, non-European agency has been further clouded within East Indian Company travel narratives by what Edward Said called 'Orientalism'. Yet marginalised, non-European voices and agency are evident within Kirkpatrick's account, and within the sparse details of Kadir Khan's expedition, if read alongside the letters they wrote whilst en route. These were couriered to Governor-Generals Charles Cornwallis and John Shore in Calcutta, present-day Kolkata.
