120 TIBET. 



alphabet used for business and common correspondence. The vowels 

 are indicated by marks or points, and the order of writing, contrary 

 to the usual practice in the east, is from the left to the right. Print- 

 ing with blocks of wood, in the manner of the Chinese, is said to have 

 been known in Tibet from a very remote age. 



History. ...The temporal government of Tibet has not been always 

 in the possession of the lamas. According to the letters of father 

 Andrada, who was in Tibet in the year 1624, that country was then 

 governed by a secular sovereign, named Tsang-pa-han, who was a 

 zealous protector of the Christian religion, and seemed greatly in- 

 clined to embrace it. The Tartar history of the same period corro- 

 borates this circumstance, for it relates that this prince despised the 

 lamas, abandoned the law of the god Fo, and sought every opportunity 

 to destroy it. The dalai lama being highly incensed at not receiving 

 the homage of Tsang-pa-han, formed a league with the Tartars of 

 Kokonor, who under their prince or khan, named Kouchi, entered 

 Tibet at the head of a powerful army, attacked Tsang-pa-han, defeat- 

 ed him, and took him prisoner, and some time after caused him to be 

 put to death. To this Tartar prince the dalai lama was indebted for 

 his sovereignty over all Tibet ; for, far from appropriating to himself 

 the fruits of his victory, Kouchi declared himself a vassal of the su- 

 preme chief of his religion, and satisfied with receiving from him the 

 title of khan, which he had never before enjoyed. This prince, to 

 continue his protection to the dalai lama, and secure to him the un- 

 disturbed possession of his new acquisitions, fixed his residence, ac- 

 companied by his troops, in the neighbourhood of Lassa. His sons 

 had no great inclination to return to a country which their father had 

 abandoned, but followed his example and remained in Tibet. 



In 1642, the dalai lama sent ambassadors to Tsongte, father to the 

 first emperor of the present dynasty of the Manchew Tartars, threw 

 himself under his protection, and paid him tribute. Ten years after, 

 the dalai lama himself went to Peking, and did homage to the empe- 

 ror. He was loaded with honours, received a golden seal and magni- 

 ficent presents from the emperor, and was confirmed in his title of 

 Dalai Lama. » ' 



In 1693, the emperor Kanghi, being desirous of honouring the 

 lyfia, or minister of the dalai lama, declared him a prince, and grant- 

 ed him a golden seal. This minister, however, was far from being 

 faithful to the interests of the emperor ; he, on the contrary, secretly 

 betrayed them to the ambitious views of Kalden, the chief of the 

 Eluts, who was the declared enemy of the Manchew Tartars. He 

 even endeavoured to persuade the grand lama, not to go to Peking 

 when called thither by the emperor, and when the dalai lama died he 

 concealed his death. At length, however, all these intrigues were 

 discovered in 1705, and Lats-khan, the chief of the Tartars of Koko- 

 nor, caused this perfidious minister to be put to death. Kanghi, in- 

 formed of the crimes which he had committed, approved of the pun- 

 ishment inflicted on him, and sent some of the grandees of his court 

 to Tibet to govern that country in conjunction with the Tartar prince, 

 on whom he lavished many rich presents. He afterwards appointed 

 a new dalai lama, who was the sixth who had borne that title. 



In 1714, Tchongkar, the principal chief of the Elats, made an 

 irruption into Tibet, and carried away a great quantity of rich plunder 

 in gold; silver, precious stones, silks, and other valuable things. The 



