has allowed, of the volumes of the Annales de la Propagation de la Foi.
The first notice of the journey that I find in this periodical is in vol. xix. pp. 265 seqq. (1847). This, after some introductory matter regarding the origin of the Mission in Mongolia, gives a letter from Huc to M. Etienne, the Supt.-General of the Congregation of the Mission, dated Macao, December 20th, 1846, presenting a sketch of the journey up to their arrival at Lhassa, January 29th, 1846.[1]
The next paper bearing on the subject is in the same volume, and is a Notice sur la Prière Bouddhique, by M. Gabet, 'qui vient de rentrer pour quelques mois en France.'
Vol. xx. (p. 5) contains a letter from Gabet to M. Etienne, dated Tarlané, June 1842. It had been mislaid, and thus was not published till 1848. It describes a journey to the Suniút country and the Great Kuren, i.e. Urga. This is the basis of the passages on that subject in the Souvenirs (vol. i. pp. 133 seqq.).
In the same volume, p. 118, we have an extract from a report by Gabet, which continues the narrative of Huc's letter in vol. xix. down to their exit from Tibet. It is vague and dull, and presents a great contrast to his comrade's vivacity. At p. 223 there is a fuller account by Gabet of their residence at Lhassa. It is curious that it does not contain a word of their swaggering conduct in presence of the mandarins, as described in the Souvenirs. Vol. xxi. (1849), and xxii. (1850), contain supplementary
- ↑ Among many other passages the following is unmistakably in the style of the Souvenirs: 'Tolon-noor est comme une monstrueuse pompe pneumatique à faire le vide dans les bourses Mongoles.' It is characteristic, too, of the clever but pretentious abbé that he says the name Djao-naiman-soumé, applied to the town of Tolon-noor on the maps (since D'Anville's), is 'également inconnu et incompris des Tatares et des Chinois.' Huc professes familiarity with Mongol, yet he is unable to interpret this name (applied, indeed, not properly to Tolon-noor, but to the site of Kublaï's summer palace at Shangtu, twenty-six miles to the north of it). The words mean simply 'the hundred and eight temples.'
