6 
THROUGH ASIA 
city was visited by several missionaries. Desideri lived 
in Lhasa from 1716 to 1729, and Della Penna from 1719 
to 1735, and again from 1740 to 1746; they, however, 
have left no writings, except a few letters. Between the 
years 1729 and 1737 the bold Dutchman Van der Putte 
travelled from India, by way of Lhasa and Koko-nor, to 
Peking, whence he returned through Farther India to 
Lhasa. On his return home he burned all his papers, 
under - the impression that nobody would believe his 
wonderful narrative. In 18 ir Manning reached Lhasa; 
and in 1845 the two French missionaries, Hue and Gabet, 
made their celebrated journey from Peking by way of 
Koko-nor, Burkhan-buddha, and Tan-la to the capital of 
Tibet, a journey which Father Hue described in an 
interesting book. Since then no European has succeeded 
in penetrating to Lhasa. Every subsequent expedition 
which started with that city as its goal has been compelled 
to turn back, its mission unaccomplished. 
As I mentioned before, the outlying parts of the country 
have been visited by several European travellers, not all 
of whom, however, have done scientific work or brought 
home valuable information. The extreme west of Tibet 
was explored in 1856 and 1857 by the brothers 
Schlagintweit, in 1865 by Johnson, in 1868-70 by Shaw, 
in 1868-70 by Hayward, and in 1870 and 1873-74 ^>7 
F'orsyth and his many associates, in 1885-87 by Carey 
and Dalgleish, in 1888-90 by Grombtehevsky. Kishen 
Singh, an Indian pundit, who was a member of Forsyth’s 
expedition, succeeded in penetrating somewhat farther 
into the country than the others. One of the most 
remarkable journeys ever made in Tibet was that of the 
pundit Nain Singh, who had taken part in Schlagintweit’s 
and Forsyth’s expeditions, and was sent by Captain Trotter 
in July 1874 from Leh in Ladak to Lhasa. His caravan 
consisted of twenty-six sheep, carrying light loads. Only 
four of them survived the journey, which extended to a 
thousand miles and lasted four months. The animals 
subsisted on such herbage as they were able to find on 
the way. At the town of Niagzu, on the boundary 
