Manuscript letter written by Abbé Huc, sent from Macau in November 1846, addressed to his parents in Toulouse and reporting on his just-completed epic journey through Tartary and Tibet.

Macao, 1er. Novembre 1846. Entire letter, manuscript in ink on a single folio sheet of Chinese paper, folded to form 4 pages, written on 3½ pages; the panel on the outer side addressed to ‘Monsieur Huc, Rue Pargaminières 73, Toulouse, Haute-Garonne’, circular postal markings in black ‘Paris 8 Janv. 47’ and ‘Toulouse 11 Janv. 47’; the letter commences ‘Mes chers parents’ and is signed at the foot ‘Je vous embrasse tous filialement et fraternellement, É. Huc’; remnants of red wax seal; a couple of small closed tears at edges of the folds (no loss of text), otherwise complete, clean and legible.

A rare and important letter by the missionary and traveller Abbé Huc, containing what is surely the earliest written account of his extraordinary journey through Tartary and Tibet in 1844-46. 

The French Vincentian missionary father Évariste Régis Huc (1813-1860), often referred to simply as Abbé Huc, had departed from Dolon Nor in Inner Mongolia in August 1844 with the intention of crossing into Tibet to proselytise the indigenous population and study their culture, and then travelling on to India via Sikkim. He was accompanied by Father Joseph Gabet, a fellow Vincentian. Their journey would be a perilous one. Disguised as lamas, the two men traversed the Ordos Desert, reaching the border of the Tibetan kingdom early in 1845. The pair then spent eight months studying the Tibetan language and Buddhist scriptures at the Kumbum lamasery, before joining a Tibetan embassy returning from Peking which granted them permission to travel to Lhasa. When Huc and Gabet entered Lhasa in late January 1846, they became the first westerners since Thomas Manning (1811) to visit the Forbidden City. The regent allowed them to establish a small chapel, and they began their missionary work among the Tibetans. At the end of February, however, they were expelled by the Chinese imperial commissioner, Qishan, who, suspicious of their activities and fearing that they could supply strategic information about Tibet to the British in India, ordered them to be escorted back to Canton, where they arrived in October 1846.

Huc later recorded his travels in his Souvenirs d’un voyage dans la Tartarie, le Thibet, et la Chine pendant les années 1844, 1845 et 1846, published in Paris in 1850. An English translation by William Hazlitt, Travels in Tartary, appeared soon afterwards.

In the present letter, which as far as we can ascertain has never been published, Huc provides an extensive commentary on the remarkable journey that he and Gabet had so recently made through regions largely unvisited and uncharted by Europeans. The letter, written at the Vincentian seminary in Macau on 1 November 1846, was the first piece of correspondence Huc sent to France following his travels, and thus it confirmed that he and Gabet had survived their journey. During the expedition, which had lasted almost two years, no news had been heard of the missionaries’ activity or whereabouts; the lack of correspondence from Huc had led his family and colleagues to believe him dead. In the Postscript to his Souvenirs, reflecting on the missionaries’ arrival at Macau, Huc wrote: ‘Our long and painful journey was at an end; and at last we were able, after so many tribulations, to enjoy a little quiet and repose’. Addressed to his parents at home in Toulouse, the present letter is as intimate as it is richly detailed in its account of the historic journey.

[Translation of extracts from letter]:

‘Macao, 1 November 1846. My dear parents, It has been at most a fortnight since I arrived in Macao after a journey of more than two years in legendary countries and across extraordinary paths. It was with my colleague and friend Mr Gabet that I undertook this gigantic journey. We set off on 1 August 1844 and from that time until the present day we were denied communication with Europe, even with our colleagues from China and Tartary. It was only yesterday that I had the pleasure of receiving a letter. The previous letters and the things you have sent me, all of these have been sent to Tartary, where I will go to retrieve them later on. To satisfy your curiosity, I will outline for you my itinerary. First of all, it is necessary to mark our point of departure in Tartary, in Tartarian-Chinese Christendom a little below Peking. We arranged a caravan with four camels to carry our luggage and food, two horses which Mr Gabet and I were to ride, along with a little mule owned by a young lama who was serving us; and so, organised in this manner, we plunged ourselves into the Tartarian deserts, with only the sun and a map for guidance. We visited the majority of the kingdom of Tartary. It is useless to tell you the names of the places, since they are not yet on our maps. We camped by the blue sea in the country of the Kalmonts, and after a stay of more than 8 months in a well-known lamasery inhabited by 5,000 lamas, we joined a Tartarian caravan headed for Lhasa, the capital of Tibet. Nothing can compare to this wretched journey! We were attacked by brigands, we were buried under snow, we were more than once on the brink of death from starvation, and we were daily exposed to death from the cold. The crowded caravan was obliged to abandon 40 men who had been suddenly frozen, to say nothing of the innumerable number of camels, of horses. What is more, almost every day the site where we had pitched camp was strewn with the corpses of men and animals. Mr Gabet very nearly joined the number of victims of this murderous climate: for three days his feet and body were frozen. But God did not permit his death. At last we arrived at Lhasa, capital of Tibet – and what a country is Tibet! What a city is Lhasa! And the grandiose Boutala temple where the great Lama resides! In truth, nothing is comparable to Tibet. We were very well received by the authorities of the place and especially by the prime minister regent of the kingdom, who is serving during the youth of the great Lama, who is at present a child of 8 years. The regent lent us one of his houses, where we were able to erect a chapel. He put us in charge of the education of his second son. Everything was going wonderfully in Lhasa. We were publicly recognised as Frenchmen and Christian preachers; but a Chinese mandarin, ambassador of the court of Peking to the great lama, sought a quarrel with us. We protested, disputed, complained… He [the Lama] was obliged to yield to the violence of that Chinese Mandarin who, against the wishes of the Tibetan authorities, forced us to return to Canton – justly, it is true, but arbitrarily. We therefore had to undertake a journey of 8 months across the perilous mountains. We departed with a large and impressive escort of Chinese Mandarins but they did not all survive the parlous journey. When we arrived at the borders of China, we were followed by four coffins, to say nothing of the four men who had fallen into chasms, preventing us from retrieving their bodies. Finally, after having been shaken and tossed about on dangerous precipices, after defying death almost every day for two years, here I am alive in Macao, alive and well, very much alive… How strange! Since leaving France, I have not once fallen ill, not even for a single day have I had to endure the slightest discomfort. For the moment, I will not give you any further details. If God gives me life and rest, I hope to compose a voluminous series of writings about these countries, which no European has previously penetrated.

Upon my arrival in Macao I learnt that there had arrived here a little while ago a certain Mr Lagrenée, ambassador to China. Perhaps this has made you believe that at present everything has been going well in the celestial empire, that Christians and missionaries all enjoy the greatest liberty! Well, I will tell you, me, who has just traversed China and visited both large and small tribunals, I will tell you that he was the result of a ridiculous masquerade. France spent 5 million on this ambassador. That was surely sufficient to effect great things… An honour gifted to France, who has been so generous! […] On the contrary. You could say that he has come to China with the sole purpose of imposing the persecutions which are enacted at present in all parts of China. […] Soon the protests of all the missionaries and even all the Chinese Christians will arrive. Time goes on, and it seems to me that Théophile must have already become a big boy. […]. Ultimately it does not matter whether you are here or there. The essential thing is to be a good Christian, sometimes and always. I am pleased to learn that he is still wise and I hope that he will always remain so – but for the love of my poor eyes, my dear Théophile, I urge you to make an effort to write your letters in a more readable manner. I realise that with time running by it is not a great merit to have beautiful and magnificent handwriting. But it is a real shame to be illegible, it’s a real failing. Anastasie does well to count entirely on providence for her future. Yes, may she remain at the mission if it suits her. May she be the guardian angel of the family […]. I can now say to Anastasie that I have received all that has been sent to me. Only I have learned here that I have been sent many things while in Tartary. Later on, I can retrieve these. […]. Farewell my dear parents. Know that never and nowhere are you far from my thoughts. I send you all filial and paternal affections. É. Huc.’