Heyde. No converts are better instructed, and like those of Leh they
seem of good quality, and are industrious and self-supporting.
Winter work is severe, as ponies, cattle, and sheep must always be
hand-fed, and often hand-watered. Mr. Heyde has great repute as a
doctor, and in summer people travel long distances for his advice and
medicine. He is universally respected, and his judgment in worldly
affairs is highly thought of; but if one were to judge merely by
apparent results, the devoted labour of nearly forty years and
complete self-sacrifice for the good of Kylang must be pronounced
unsuccessful. Christianity has been most strongly opposed by men of
influence, and converts have been exposed to persecution and loss.
The abbot of the Kylang monastery lately said to Mr. Heyde, 'Your
Christian teaching has given Buddhism a resurrection.' The actual
words used were, 'When you came here people were quite indifferent
about their religion, but since it has been attacked they have become
zealous, and now they KNOW.' It is only by sharing their
circumstances of isolation, and by getting glimpses of their
everyday-life and work, that one can realise at all what the heroic
perseverance and self-sacrificing toil of these forty years have
been, and what is the weighty influence on the people and on the
standard of morals, even though the number of converts is so small.
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