xii INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 



has allowed, of the volumes of the Annalcs de la Propaga- 

 tion de la Foi. 



The first notice of the journey that I find in this peri- 

 odical is in vol. xix. pp. 265 scqq. (1847). This, after 

 some introductory matter regarding the origin of the Mis- 

 sion in Mongolia, gives a letter from Hue to M. Etienne, 

 the Supt.-General of the Congregation of the Mission, 

 dated Macao, December 20th, 1846, presenting a sketch 

 of the journey up to their arrival at Lhassa, January 29th, 

 i8zi6.i 



The next paper bearing on the subject is in the same 

 volume, and is a Notice siir la Pritre Boiiddhiquc, by 

 M, Gabet, ' qui vient de rentrer pour quelques mois en 

 France.' 



Vol. XX. (p. 5) contains a letter from Gabet to M. 

 Etienne, dated Tarlane, June 1842. It had been mislaid, 

 and thus was not published till 1848. It describes a jour- 

 ney to the Suniut country and the Great Kuren, i.e. Urga. 

 This is the basis of the passages on that subject in the 

 Souvenirs (vol. i. pp. 133 seqq). 



In the same volume, p. 118, we have an extract from 

 a report by Gabet, which continues the narrative of Hue's 

 letter in vol. xix. down to their exit from Tibet. It is 

 vague and dull, and presents a great contrast to his com- 

 rade's vivacity. At p. 223 there is a fuller account by 

 Gabet of their residence at Lhassa. It is curious that it 

 does not contain a word of their swaggering conduct in 

 presence of the mandarins, as described in the Souvenirs. 

 Vol. xxi. (1849), and xxii. (1850), contain supplementary 



* Among many other passages the following is unmistakably in 

 the style of the Souvenirs : ' Tolon-noor est comnie une monstrueuse 

 pompe pncumatique к faire le vide dans les bourses Mongoles.' It is 

 characteristic, too, of the clever but pretentious abb(5 that he says the 

 name Djao-iiaimati-soitme, applied to the town of Tolon-noor on the 

 maps (since D'Anville's), is ' ^galement inconnu et incompris des 

 Tatares et des Chinois.' Hue professes familiarity with Mongol, yet 

 he is unable to interpret this name (applied, indeed, not properly to 

 Tolon-noor, but to the site of Kublai's summer palace at Shangtu, 

 twenty-six miles to the north of it). The words mean simply ' the 

 hundred and eight temples.' 



