Note 8 — Chapter II

We know now that Csoma’s original plan “for the development of some obscure points of Asiatic and European history,” conceived in Hungary, was to proceed through the northern regions of Central Asia, as Hegedüs pointedly remarks, towards the “borders of the Chinese Empire and towards Mongolia;” and we can trace his steps from Persia to Khorassan and Bokhara, through Balkh, Kulm, Bamian, across the Hindu Kush, in that direction, till he reached Kabul on the 6th of January 1822. Thence, viâ Lahore, he travelled into Kashmir, where he arrived on the 14th of April. The journey towards China led viâ Turkestan, and he travelled as far as Leh on his way thither; but having ascertained, when at Leh, that the road to Yarkand was “very difficult, expensive, and very dangerous for a Christian,” as he did not attempt to travel in disguise, he resolved to return towards Lahore. On this journey he met Moorcroft, who entertained him hospitably, and lent him Giorgi’s “Alphabetum Tibetanum.” This book Csoma studied through, and was thus induced to propose to Moorcroft that he would thoroughly master that language, if, during his studies, his daily wants could be provided for. The supposed reason, therefore, that Csoma devoted himself to Tibetan merely because he had observed a similarity between the Magyar and the Tibetan languages, is not supported by any proofs. At the time we speak of, the British power was feeling its way slowly and extending its influence towards Central Asia: doubtless the Government officers on the frontier perceived the advantages that could be gained by a thorough acquaintance with the language of Tibet, which then indeed was a real terra incognita to Europeans. Dr. H. H. Wilson points out clearly this aim when he says: “To establish an accurate knowledge of the nations around us, and to promote a friendly intercourse with them. This will not only promote the commercial and political prosperity of Great Britain and her Indian possessions, but may effect the still more important end of teaching to yet semi-barbarous tribes the advantages of industry and civilisation.”8