“Mr. Csoma’s objects embrace a wide expanse, of which he justly considers a grammar and dictionary of the language they relate to, as the first desideratum, and none of the specimens of words which he has occasionally gleaned from books, or those sent to him by Mr. Wilson, are correct in orthography. The works in which Mr. Csoma is now engaged will only form a prelude to their further extension and copiousness, and they cannot, I should imagine, fail to excite interest towards that end; but, poor man, his means are limited, and far from adequate to accomplish the vast objects which his mind surveys. The Lama receives twenty-five rupees a month, a servant costs him four, his house-rent one, and writing materials consume a proportion which leaves him less than twenty rupees to provide the necessaries of life, which in that remote and secluded region are very expensive, and must frequently be supplied from Sabathú, or from a distance of two hundred miles. He lives in the most economical manner; his resources would compel him to this if his inclination did not. He enjoys the best of health, perhaps in consequence; for though residing at a spot abounding with grapes, apricots, and many other fruits, he assured me he had this season abstained from everything of the sort from a prudent conviction that they could not make him happier, and might injure him. His chief and almost only meal is tea, in the Tartar fashion, which is indeed more like soup, the butter and salt mixed in its preparation leaving no flavour of tea. It is a repast at once greasy and nourishing, and being easily made, is very convenient in such a country.