1842.] Report of the death of Mr. Csoma de Kurds. 307 



be to the east and north of Lassa and the province of Kham, and on the 

 western confines of China ; to reach it, was the goal of his most ardent 

 wishes, and there he fully expected to find the tribes he had hitherto 

 sought in vain. The foundation of his hopes, to any one not deeply 

 imbued with enthusiasm, or accustomed to put faith in philological 

 affinities, will probably appear vague and insecure. It was as follows, 

 in so far as I could gather from his repeated conversations. In the 

 dialects of Europe, the Sclavonic, Celtic, Saxon, and German, I believe, 

 the people who gave their name to the country now called Hungary, 

 were styled Hunger or Ungur, Oongar, or Yoongar; and in Arabic, 

 Turkish, and Persian works, there are notices of a nation in Central 

 Asia, resembling in many respects the people who come from the East 

 into Hungary. In these languages, they are styled Oogur, Woogur, 

 Voogur, or Yoogur, according to the pronunciation of the Persian let- 

 ter, and from the same works it might be inferred, he said, that the 

 country of the " Yoogurs" was situated as above noted. There were 

 collateral reasons which led him to this conclusion, but he did not lay 

 much stress on them, and they have escaped my memory. It has since 

 occurred to me, that at the time of the conversations now detailed, Mr. 

 De Koros had some presentiment that death was near him, for on no 

 former occasion was he so communicative, nor did he express opinions, 

 as if he was very anxious they should be remembered. On this day he 

 certainly did so, and I feel it due to his memory to record them, even in 

 this imperfect manner. To give his opinions point, it would require a 

 knowledge of the subjects on which he discoursed, to which I cannot 

 pretend ; yet such as they are, they may, as the last words of an extra- 

 ordinary man, be prized by those who honoured him for his acquire- 

 ments, and admired him for his unwearied exertions in the cause of 

 literature, languages, and history. 



Although so much better on the 7th than on the previous day, I 

 dreaded that a return of fever was impending, and I again urged him 

 to take medicine, but in vain. On the 8th I did not see him, but on the 

 morning of the 9th, on visiting him with Dr. Griffith, I found that fever 

 had returned ; he was confused, and slightly delirious ; his countenance 

 was sunken, anxious, and yellow, and altogether his state was bad and 

 dangerous. After much trouble, we got him to swallow some medicine, 



2 s 



