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.