Documento RAS GOV7/1 - Letter from Rev. C. Gutzlaff on Buddhist Literature in China

'Copy of a letter by the Rev. C. Gutzlaff, dated Victoria, Hong Kong, 24 August 1846, on the subject of Buddhist literature'. Gutzlaff is replying to Colonel Sykes' enquiry about Buddhist literature and explains that the largest collection he has seen is on the 'Golden Island' and consists of 'beautifully bound volumes in yellow covers'. These were a present more than a century ago and the inscriptions he has seen are in Sanskrit. Gutzlaff then explains that collections in China are superseded by those in Siam (Thailand). He also informs that 'the land where Pali books are most valued is Cambodia'.