In 1774 the Teshoo Lama, Regent of Tibet and Guardian to the infant Dalai Lama, received a deputation from the Governor of Bengal, headed by Mr George Bogle, with whom the Teshoo Lama was much taken. This warm relationship led in 1779 to an invitation from the Teshoo Lama to join him in Pekin where he was visiting at the solicitation of the Emperor of China. Unfortunately the exciting prospects afforded by this visit were concluded by the untimely deaths through illness of both the Teshoo Lama and George Bogle. Not wishing to forgo the relationship that had been built up, a second deputation...

In 1783, at the opportunity presented by a new Panchen (or Teshoo) Lama, Bengal governor-general Warren Hastings sent a deputation to Tibet and Bhutan in the hope of promoting British-Indian trade across the Himalayas. Samuel Turner (1759 1802), an army officer in the East India Company, was appointed leader of the mission. His journal, offering first-hand descriptions of these countries, was originally published in 1800 and remained the only such English-language work for more than half a century. Assisted by the botanist and surgeon Robert Saunders and the surveyor and illustrator Samuel...