Travels in the Mogul Empire (Bernier) 19.6.5

19.6.5

One day I went to see him at the ambassador's, taking a Kachemirian merchant acquainted with the language of Tibet with me as an interpreter, on the pretence that I desired to purchase certain stuffs which he had for sale, a species of felt about a foot wide; but the real object of the visit was to obtain information concerning those imperfectly known regions. But I learnt little or nothing new; he only said generally that Great Tibet would bear no comparison with his own country; that the latter was covered with snow more than five months in the year, and that it was frequently engaged in war with the Tartars; but which Tartars these were he could not say. At length I found that the time passed with this man was misspent, for he was incapable of answering any one of the numerous questions I intended to ask.