Quotes:Grüber, Johann

Zirkoff, Boris

Grüber, Johann. German Jesuit missionary in China and noted explorer, b. at Linz, Oct. 28, 1623; d. in Florence in 1665. Joined the Society of Jesus, 1641; went to China, 1656, where he was active at the court of Peking as professor of mathematics. In 1661, his superiors sent him to Rome on business concerning the Order. As it was impossible to journey by sea on account of the blockade of Macao by the Dutch, Grüber and his companion, the Belgian Father Albert d’Orville, conceived the daring idea of going overland to India by way of China and Tibet. This led to a memorable journey which won them fame as some of the most successful explorers of the 17th century. Travelling through the Kukunor territory and Kalmuk Tartary, they reached Lhasa; thence they crossed, and amid countless hardships, the mountain passes of the Himalayas, arriving in Nepal, and then passed over the Ganges plateau to Patna and Agra, where d’Orville died as a result of these hardships. This journey lasted 214 days. Grüber,, accompanied by the Sanskrit scholar, Father Henry Roth, followed the overland route through Asia and reached Europe. The journey produced a sensation and proved the possibility of a direct overland route between China and India. Grüber set out to return to China, attempted to push his way through Russia, was obliged to return, and undertook the land route to Asia. However, he was taken sick and died on the way.

An account of this first journey through Tibet in modern times was published by Father Athanasius Kircher to whom Grüber had left his journals and charts, under the title of China illustraia, Amsterdam, 1667, a French ed. of which appeared in 1670.

Source: Boris de Zirkoff, «H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings», vol. 4, p. 649