Ixxiv Proceedmyii of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. [April, 1907, 



Chakravarti, seconded byLt.-Col. D. C. Phillott; Bahu Satyendra 

 Nath Bhadra^ M.A., Professor, Dacca College, proposed by Mr. Hari 



Nath De, seconded by Lt.-Col. D. C. Phillott ; Captain Hugh 

 Stewart, I.A., Assistant Political Agent, Loralai, Baluchistan, 

 proposed by Li-Col. D. C. Phillott, seconded by Dr, N. Annandale; 

 Major J. T. Calvert, I.M.S., proposed by Major F. P. Maynard, I.M .S., 

 seconded by Major W.J. Buchanan, I.M.S, ; Lieut. A.VenhaTfi White, 

 I.M,S., M.B., B.S. (London), Medical Officer, 13th Rajputs, Alipur, 

 proposed by Major F. P. Maynard, I.M.S., seconded by Major 

 W. J. Buchanan, I.M.S. ; and Maulavi A. F, M. Abdul Ali, Deputy 

 Magistrate, Patuakhali, Backergunj, proposed by Mr, J. A. Chap- 

 man, seconded by Lt.-Col. D. C. Phillott. 



The General Secretary read the following communication 

 from the Rev. H. Hosten, S.J. : 



Saint Francis Javier and Tibet (?). 



Can any of our Tibetan or Japanese scholars in Calcutta help 

 ufl to solve the interesting geographical puzzle contained in the 

 following extract from a letter of St. Francis Xavier, dated 

 Cochin, Jan. 20th, 1549 ^ ;~ ' ' 



" Would to God that numerous labourers of the Society * may 

 later go to China, and from China to the great schools called 

 Chyuguinguo, beyond China and Tartao.^ From what Paul de 

 Santa-Fe * has told us, Tartao, Chiua and Japan follow the reli- 

 gious law taught at Chynguinguo, He does not know the 

 language in which this law is written. It is a language proper 

 thereunto, as Latin is with us- Hence he has not been able to 

 inform us fully about what the printed books contain which deal 

 with this law. When I shall have, please God, arrived in Japan, 

 I shall write, with many details, what is contained in these books, 



which the Japanese say to have come down to them from God. 



We think this is one of the earliest references to Tibet to be 

 found in European writings subsequent to the Portuguese con- 

 quest. The geographical details contained in this extract point 

 to Tibet, as also the mention of the gi'eat schools, a manifest 

 allusion, in our opinion, to the great Tibetan lamaseries, the 

 depositories of much of the ancient Sanskrit lore of the Buddhists. 



Which is the Japanese equivalent of Tibet ? Or, what does 

 * Chyuguinguo ' correspond to ? Ko other reference to this mys- 

 terious country can be found in the life of the Saint, 



4- 



tr^^^: ^^^^'^'^' Crosy SJ., Saint Francois de Xavier. Paris. V. Eetaux. 

 1900, Vol. I, pp. 409, 410. 



2 The Society of Jesus. 

 2 Tartar J. 



*k * .^ y°"°g Japanese who had come from Japan to Malacca, and from 

 there to U>a, where he became a Christian at the College of Santa-Fe. He 



t It iL^'oT ^^^^r'"^ * ^^^^^^ f^°^ G«**» ^«v- 29th, 1548. Cf . Op. ciL. Vol. 

 1, pp. 4l»-^4. He changed his nam© « Angero " to that of Paul de Santa-Fe. 



