ion of the Kanjur
published at Peking, by command of the Emperor Khian-Lung, sold for L600. A
copy of the Kanjur was bartered for 7000 oxen by the Buriates, and the same
tribe paid 1200 silver roubles for a complete copy of the Kanjur and Tanjur
together.[55] Such a jungle of religious literature--the most excellent
hiding-place, we should think, for Lamas and Dalai-Lamas--was too much even
for a man who could travel on foot from Hungary to Tibet. The Hungarian
enthusiast, however, though he did not translate the whole, gave a most
valuable analysis of this immense bible, in the twentieth volume of the
'Asiatic Researches,' sufficient to establish the fact that the principal
portion of it was a translation from the same Sanskrit originals which had
been discovered in Nepal by Mr. Hodgson. Csoma de Koeroes died soon after he
had given to the world the first fruits of his labours,--a victim to his
heroic devotion to the study of ancient languages and religions.

[Footnote 55: 'Die Religion des Buddha,' von Koeppen, vol. ii. p.
282.]

It was another fortunate coincidence that, contemporaneously with the
discoveries of Hodgson and Csoma de Koeroes, another scholar, Schmidt of
St. Petersburg, had so far advanced in the study of the Mongolian
language, as to be able to translate portions of the Mongolian version
of the Buddhist canon, and thus forward the elucidation of some of the
problems connected with the religion of Buddha.

It never rains but it pours. Whereas for years, nay, for centuries,
not a single original document of the Buddhist religion had been
accessible to the scholars of Europe, we witness, in the small space
of ten years, the recovery of four complete Buddhist literatures. In
addition to the discoveries of Hodgson in Nepal, of Csoma de Koeroes in
Tibet, and of Schmidt in Mongolia, the Honourable George Turnour
suddenly presented to the world the Buddhist literature of Ceylon,
composed in the sacred language of that island, the ancient Pali. The
existence of that literature had been known before. Since 1826 Sir
Alexander Johnston had been engaged in collecting authentic copies of
the Mahavansa, the Ra_g_avali, and the Ra_g_aratnakari. These copies
were translated at his suggestion from Pali into modern Singhalese and
thence into English. The publication was entrusted to Mr. Edward
Upham, and the work appeared in 1833, under the title of 'Sacred and
Historical Works of Ceylon,' dedicated to William IV. Unf