Original literary monuments written in the old language called Pali, used by the Buddhists in their sacred books, are exceedingly rare in Europe. The Imperial Library here and the Royal one at Copenhagen are the only establishments possessing a series of MSS. in that tongue. This extreme scarcity is owing to the great reluctance the Buddhist priests evince to intrust their religious writings to Europeans, or to allow them to copy them. Two years ago the Imperial Library succeeded in purchasing a series of MSS. of this kind, and valuable on account not only of the number of volumes, but also of the contents, which are extremely curious.
Nevertheless, the great Buddhist collection called Tripitaka (the Triple Basket) was only represented by a few fragments la this first acquisition. This chasm has now happily been filled up by Mgr. Bigandet, Bishop of Rangoon, who, aware of the value these works must have for Orientalists, has succeeded in obtaining from the Birman monarch, as a present to the Emperor of the French, a complete copy or the whole collection, consisting of twenty-eight volumes. The text is written with a sharp point on palm leaves, in Birman characters; and the binding is not less curious, the sides being of wood painted and gilt. One of the works is the “Kamavacca”, written in old Pali characters: here each of the leaves is bordered with figures and ornaments in red on a gold ground. The Emperor has been graciously pleased to send this magnificent present to the Imperial Library.
The Evening Telegraph, Philadelphia, PA, July 25, 1868