Car Bh Ot CT EB RyS. 
ing to Diodorus, thirty ot forty cen- 
turies ago; amongft whom we have 
the authority of Plutarch, that the 
fame ufages prevailed. It would 
indeed, as he adds, be whimfically 
Curious, if we could allow ourfelves 
to imagine that a fingular cuftom 
at. this day fubfifting could be 
traced back to an origin fo very 
remote, and fhould have taken its 
rife in a period when the world 
Wa* yet in its infancy; or that the 
relations of Diodorus and of Plu- 
tarch, which, confidering the times 
of which they treat, might, with 
muci appearance of reafon, be 
deemed fabulous, fhould be corro- 
borated, and, as it were, authenti- 
cated by a cuftom at this day fub- 
fifting, — ES 
Curious Letter from the 'Telhoo La- 
ma to, Governor Hatftings; from 
Tranjactions of the Royal Edin- 
burgh Society. : 
R. Maconochie communicat- 
ed from Robert Bogle, of 
Daldowie, efq. .a copy of a letter, 
written in 1773, by the Tefhoo 
Lama of Thibet, to Warren Haf- 
tings, efquire, governor general of 
Bengal, while- a brother of Mr. 
Bogle’s was refiding at the Lama’s 
, court, as envoy from Mr. Hatitings. 
Mr. Maconochie remarked, that the 
turn of thought and expreffion ren- 
_@ered the letter a very great curio- 
fity; but that it was ftill more in- 
_terefting on two accounts: 1ft, That 
it eftablifhed beyond all queftion, 
that the Tefhoo Lama, though a 
ntiff of inferior rank to the Da- 
i Lama, is underftood to poffefs 
the foul of faints, or divine perion- 
_ages that flourifhed in former times, 
and to retain the remembrance of 
. 
55 
what happened to them in thofe 
paft periods of exiftence. adly. — 
‘That the fame places which are re- 
garded in Bengal as peculiarly fa- * 
cred, are likewife regarded by tne .. 
religion of Fo as holy; that the . 
Tefhoo Lar-a, in fome of his former 
ftates of exiftence, is fuppofed to - 
have refided in thofe plaees; thar 
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 af-. 
certained to belong to Bengal,- 
Thefe circumftances, he thought, 
fuggefted very important refleeabne 
with regard to the hiftory. of the. 
religions of Eaftern Afia. ar 
The letter is as follows: 
From Tresuoo Lama to. the ~ 
Governor. 
Received the 22d Fuly, 1775+ 
« Mr. Bogle, whom, out of your 
kindnefs, you were pleafed to fend 
into this quarter, having (thank 
God) arrived here in perfect health, 
I had, at an aufpicious hour, the 
pleafure of an interview with him, 
and was rendered fo completely 
happy on the occafion, that ir might 
in reality have been thought an in- 
terview with yourfelf. ‘The letter 
which yon addrefled to me, and the 
prefents you fent by Mr. Bogle, I 
have likewife received fafe. May 
your happinels and profperity daily 
increafe. ,All the particulars which 
Mr. Bogle verbally reprefented to 
me, I perfectly underftand. _ You 
were pleafed to write me, that you 
had fent orders for eftablihing 
peace-with the Debe Doria, aprée- 
able to my requeft, ‘True; the 
BE 4 picafure 
