When the Jesuit missionary Antonio de Andrade set out from Agra in 1624, no European had visited Tibet and almost nothing was known of the country or its inhabitants. This book describes the travels and achievements of Andrade and four other Jesuits who made the long and perilous journey across difficult terrain and without maps. The final missionary is Ippolito Desideri, who stayed in Tibet from 1716 to 1721 and wrote a long and detailed account of the country.