his notes upon slips of paper, and ultimately, in fear
lest improper or inaccurate use should be made of them,
ordered them in his will to be burnt. He appears also
to have kept a small journal which was, it seems,
destroyed at the same time. It is difficult to find a
parallel to the loss which scientific exploration has
suffered by the holocaust of the entire notes of a man
who was equally distinguished as a traveller, a linguist,
and a scientific expert.
Soon afterwards the names of three Englishmen are
conspicuous among those who have explored Tibet. It
is, indeed, almost entirely upon their notes that our
information as to the interior of Tibet rested until the
organisation of the travelling Pundits by the Indian
Survey Office comparatively late in the igth century.
Between the years 1774 an(f 1812 Mr. George Bogle, a
young writer of the East India Company, Lieutenant
Samuel Turner, and Mr. Thomas Manning— an eccentric
mathematician and Oriental scholar— all penetrated
with more or less success into this country of mystery.
The three men represented different types. Bogle, as
his diary shows, was, though a comparatively young
man, a peculiarly suitable envoy for the delicate work
which Warren Hastings entrusted to him. The Governor
himself showed in his dealings with Tibet the same grasp
and foresight that characterised his actions in every
part of his huge Dependency ; he realised the importance
of securing friendly relations with a country
which seemed at that time to be the most obvious
link between Bengal and the rest of Asia. He therefore
sent George Bogle, as the accredited agent of the
Company, to establish communication, and, if possible,
improve the commercial intercourse between the two