Page:Narratives of the mission of George Bogle to Tibet.djvu/155

Rh Intr.] BOGLE'S APPOINTMENT TO RANGPUR. cxlvii Warren Hastings had no intention of losing the results to be derived from Bogle's first mission to Tibet, and the friend- ship he had formed for the Teshu Lama. He resolved to con- tinue the same policy, with a view to establishing free com- mercial intercourse between Tibet and Bengal. On the 19th of April, 1779, George Bogle was " appointed to proceed again to Bhutan and Tibet, for the purpose of cultivating and im- proving the good understanding subsisting between the chiefs of those countries and the Government, and to endeavour to establish a free and lasting intercourse of trade with the kingdom of Tibet, and the other states to the northward of Bengal." ^ In the course of the summer news arrived that the Teshu Lama had undertaken a journey to Peking, and the mission was consequently postponed. Mr. Bogle then wrote the important memorandum, proposing to meet the Lama at Peking, which is printed at p. 207. In September, 1779, Mr. Bogle was appointed to succeed Mr. Purling as Collector of Raugpiir, where he was on the high road to Bhutan, and in a position to encourage commercial intercourse, and to super- intend the annual fair. He writes to his sister Anne : " I am at length fairly out of Calcutta again, and although not in my Bhutan hills, I am within sight of them. Yet I felt a pang at leaving Mr. Hastings, for whose character and abilities I have a respect bordering on veneration." To his brother Bobert, who by this time had returned home to Daldowie, he writes, on 18th of January, 1780 : " I have schemes and projects for intro- ducing new articles of commerce through Bhutan, a^d of per- fecting what has already cost me so much trouble. The narrow- minded jealousy of the Bhutanese opposes obstacles, but my ' His monthly allowances during this service were to have been : Sikka Rs. Lieut.-Coloners pay and double batta 1488 Fixedsalary 1000 Contingencies, including servants, interpreters, &c. . . 500 2988 M k 2