Ml Haltings. 



HIS TORT of the SOCIETr. 19 



1787. 

 Lit. CI. Mr Maconochie communicated from Robert Bogle Aprii 16, 



/•11-T-'/- /-I • • 1-1- Letter from the 



of Daldowie, Efq; a copy of a letter, written in 1773, by the TeihooLamato 

 Teflioo Lama of Thibet, to Warren Hastings, Efq; Governor- 

 general of Bengal, while a brother of Mr Bogle's was refiding 

 at the Lama's court, as envoy from Mr Hastings. Mr Maco- 

 nochie remarked, that the turn of thought and expreffion ren- 

 dered the letter a very great curiofity ; but that it was flill 

 more interefting on two accounts : Jif;^, That it eftablifhed be- 

 yond all queflion, that the Teflioo Lama, though a Pontiflf of 

 inferior rank to the Dalai Lama, is underftood to poflefs the 

 foul of faints, or divine perfonages that flouriflied in former 

 times, and to retain the remembrance of what happened to 

 them in thofe pad: periods of exiflence. 2dfy, That the fame 

 places which are regarded in Bengal as peculiarly facred, are 

 likewife regarded by the religion of Fo as holy ; that the Tefhoo 

 Lama, in fome of his former flates of exiftence, is fuppofed to 

 have relided in thofe places ; that the Ganges, fo revered among 

 the Brahmins, is alfo revered by the worfhippers of Fo ; and 

 that the reference by the followers of that religion in Japan, to 

 fome region in India, as the origin and holy land of their 

 faith, is here afcertained to belong to Bengal. Thefe circum- 

 stances, he thought, fuggefted very important refledlions with 

 regard to the hiftory of the religions of Eaflern Afia. 

 The letter is as follows : 



From Teshoo Lama to the Governor. 



Received the 22d July 1775. 



*' Mr Bogle, whom, out of your kindnefs, you were pleafed 

 " to fend into this quarter, having (thank God) arrived here in 

 " perfed health, I had, at an aufpicious hour, the pleafure of an 

 " interview with him, and was rendered fo completely happy on 

 " the occafion, that it might in reality have been thought an in- 



(G 2) " tcrview 



