303 



Report of the death of Mr. CsoMx\ de Koros, made to G. A. Bushby, 

 Esq., Officiating Secretary, Political Department, from A. Campbell, 

 Esq. Superintendent, Darjeeling and communicated to the Society. 



It is with much regret that I repor the death at this place, on the 

 11th instant, of Csoma de Koros, the Hungarian traveller and Thibetan 

 scholar. He fell avictim to fever contracted on his journey hitherto, 

 for the cure of which he would not be persuaded to take any medicines 

 until it was too late to be of any avail. 



Mr. De Koros arrived here on the 24th ultimo, and communicated to 

 me his desire of proceeding to the residence of the Sikim Raja, and 

 thence to Lassa, for the purpose of procuring access to stores of Thi- 

 betan literature, which he had been taught to believe, from his reading in 

 Ladakh and Kansun, were still extant in the capital of eastern Thibet, 

 (Lassa,) and might have thence found their way into Sikim. 



As the eldest son of the Sikim Raja is by the usage of the family 

 a Lama, and as the present Tubgani Lama is a learned priest, and said to 

 be in possession of an extensive library, I had some hopes that by mak- 

 ing the Raja acquainted with M. De Koros' unobtrusive character, and 

 known avoidance of political and religious subjects in his intercourse 

 with the people of the countries he has visited, I might have contributed 

 to procuring him permission to proceed into Thibet, and to this end 

 I sent the Raja's Vakeel to visit M. De Koros, that he might satisfy 

 himself as to the extent to which he had prosecuted his studies into the 

 language and literature of Thibet, as well as of the objects he had in 

 view in desiring to visit the Tubgani Lama and the city of Lassa. The 

 Vakeel, who is a man of intelligence and some learning, was altogether 

 amazed at finding a Feringhee a complete master of the colloquial lan- 

 guage of Thibet, and so much his own superior in acquaintance with the 

 religion and literature of that country. I endeavoured to answer his nu- 

 merous questions about M. De Koros, by detailing the particulars of his 

 early life and later travels in Asia with which I was acquainted; by 

 stating his devotion to the prosecution of his lingual and literary stu- 

 dies ; my certain knowledge that in permitting him to visit Sikim and 

 Lassa, the Raja would have nothing to apprehend from ignorance of the 

 usages and religion of the people, or an indiscreet zeal, in the attain- 



