Work for Tibet

Pacific Press Publishing Company · OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA · Jan 17, 1900

Work for Tibet.—The life of Heinrich August Jaeschke is an example of persevering effort, and his work laid a foundation for missionary operations in Tibet, when the time should come when the line could be crossed for that purpose. Of his accomplishments, the Christian Work says:—

“He was born at Herrnhut, in Saxony, May 17, 1817, and descended from a line of Moravian exiles who were harbored and supported on Count Zinzendorf’s estate. Jaeschke was early distinguished for aptitude in languages, including Asiatic languages, and was a teacher and lecturer in colleges and universities. It is said that he kept his daily diary in seven languages. In 1856 he joined ‘the brethren’ on the borders of Tibet, in the Himalayan Mountains, at Lahoul, and settled in the village of Killarg, on the Bagha River, 10,000 feet above the sea. Once located in his field, altho prevented from going over into the land, he could not be hindered from work, so he learned the language of Tibet, and at once prepared a lexicon in German and Tibetan, and soon another in English and Tibetan, which was published by the British Indian Government. Books and tracts for use around the border soon followed, and a grammar of the language for missionaries. Then began the greatest work of translation in missionary annals. For ten years Brother Jaeschke labored on the New Testament in Tibetan, and, in impaired health, went to England to supervise its publication by the British and Foreign Bible Society.”