had purchased a few herds of goats and oxen, which he had
confided to the care of some Thibetian shepherds, who dwelt in the gorges
of the mountains, about Lha-Ssa. Under the pretext of inspecting his
herds, the feigned Mussulman went freely about the country, making
drawings and preparing his geographical charts. It is said that never
having learnt the Thibetian language, he abstained from holding direct
communication with the people of the country. At last, having dwelt for
twelve years at Lha-Ssa, Moorcroft took his way back to Ladak, but whilst
he was in the province of Ngari, he was attacked by a troop of brigands
who assassinated him. The perpetrators of this murder were pursued and
arrested by the Thibetian government, who recovered a portion of the
property of the English traveller, among which was a collection of
geographical designs and charts. It was only then, and upon sight of
these objects, that the authorities of Lha-Ssa found out that Moorcroft
was an Englishman.

Before separating from his servant, Moorcroft had given him a note,
telling him to show it to the inhabitants of Calcutta, if he ever went to
that city, and that it would suffice to make his fortune. It was
doubtless a letter of recommendation. The seizure of the effects of
Moorcroft created such a disturbance in Thibet, that Nisan, afraid of
being compromised, destroyed his letter of recommendation. He told us
himself that this note was written in characters exactly similar to ours.

The facts we have here related, we derive from the Regent, from the
Cashmerian governor, from Nisan, and from several other inhabitants of
Lha-Ssa. Before reaching this town, we had never heard of Moorcroft; it
was there we first learned the name of this English traveller. From what
we have stated, it may be considered established that Moorcroft really
went to Lha-Ssa in 1826, that he resided there for twelve years, and that
he was afterwards assassinated on the road to Ladak from Lha-Ssa.

Let us turn now, however, to other information, extremely discrepant from
that which was given us in the capital of Thibet. According to the
"Universal Geography" of Charles Ritter, {203a} Moorcroft made first a
journey in 1812, which lasted two months; he was afterwards directed by
the Company to procure horses from Turkestan, wherewith to improve the
breed of horses in India. For this purpose he undertook a second journey
in November, 1819; he got as far as Ladak