THE JOURNEY TO LHASA.
Governor-General in Council replied, on the 16th of June 1810, "We shall not fail to pay due attention to your recommendation of Mr. Manning by affording him every practicable assistance in the prosecution of his scientific pursuits." But the great statesman who opened up friendly intercourse between Bengal and Tibet, in the days of Bogle and Turner, was shelved at Daylesford. In his place was one of the managers of his prosecution, and the days of small half measures had arrived. Mr. H. T. Prinsep remembered Manning at Calcutta, as wearing a fancy dress, which he said was that of a Tatar gentleman ; but with his broad English face and full flowing beard, as looking as little like a Tatar as any son of Adam one might meet in London. He was feted and lionized at Calcutta, and, after a few months, set out with his Chinese servant to Kangpiir, and thence started on his expedition.[1] He appears to have received little or no aid from the Government ; to have been left entirely to his own resources without official recognition of any kind, and all the credit of his extraordinary journey is solely due to himself. Whether his disguise was effectual or not, he succeeded in reaching Lhasa, a feat which no official has ever yet achieved. He resided there for several months, had interviews with the Dalai Lama, and returned to India safely in 1811. He wrote from thence a long and interesting account of his expedition to Dr. Marshman, which unfortunately does not appear to have been preserved. It concluded by saying that, having lived for some time on terms of good fellowship with the Lamas, and made arrangements for penetrating farther into those unknown regions, the Emperor of China had sent for his head; but as he preferred to retain it on his shoulders, he had made the best of his way back. He had hoped to have been able to proceed by Sining to China; but what he actually did was sufficient to place him in the first rank of English
travellers. His journal, fragmentary though it be, tells the
- ↑ Manning's journey to Lhasa is mentioned in 'Tibet, Tartary, and Mongolia,' by H. T. Prinsep (London, 1852, 2nd edition), pp. 17 and 94. Manning is also mentioned in the correspondence of Mr. David Scott, among the Kuch Bahar records.
