appears strongly in the letter in which this amiable woman takes leave of the happiness and comforts of social life.

'Farewell to the privileges and conveniences of civilized life! Farewell to refined Christian society! We shall enjoy these comforts no more; but Burmah will be a good place to grow in grace, to live near to God, and be prepared to die. O, my dear parents and sisters, how little you know how to estimate your enjoyments, in your quiet homes, with all the comforts of life! How little you know how to prize dear Christian society, as you have never been deprived of it! How little you can realize the toils and perplexities of traversing the ocean; and how little you can know of the solid comfort of trusting in God, when dangers stand threatening to devour! But these privations, these dangers and toils, and these comforts, are ours, and we rejoice in them, and think it an inestimable privilege that our heavenly Father has given us, in allowing us to suffer for his cause.'-pp. 16, 17.

Though the climate of the Burman country is temperate and regular, the extremes of heat and cold rarely experienced; though the seasons seldom vary, and the soil is capable of producing wheat and all the grains that are grown in India; yet, in the ardour of conquest, such had recently been the calls made on the agriculturist for military service, and so little the inducement, perhaps from the insecurity of property, to labour for more than what was absolutely necessary, that when our missionaries arrived, there was a famine in the land.' Many were dragging on a miserable existence on leaves and other vegetables; many were dying of hunger; and robberies and murders were almost nightly committed; yet the conviction of this solitary pair that they were entering on the line of duty which God had assigned to them was so powerful and encouraging, that they gave to their friends the strongest assurances of their being cheerful and happy.

Though we find ourselves almost destitute of all those sources of enjoyment to which we have been accustomed, and are in the midst of a people, who, at present, are almost desperate, on account of the scarcity of provisions; though we are exposed to robbers by night, and invaders by day; yet we both unite in saying we never were happier, never more contented in any situation, than the present. We feel that this is the post to which God hath appointed us that we are in the path of duty; and in a situation, which, of all others, presents the most extensive field for usefulness. And, though we are surrounded with danger and death, we feel that God can, with infinite ease, preserve and support us under the most heavy sufferings.'-p. 26.

They do not complain of the general character of the Burmans, which they represent as open, frank and friendly; all accounts, indeed, agree that, though derived from the same stock, the natives have none of that fawning dissimulation which distinguishes

the

the Chinese. The officers of justice, however, are said to execute the laws in a much more barbarous manner than is practised among any of that numerous race which has been denominated • Indo-Chinese; and the government is, beyond comparison, more despotic. The usual punishment for robbery or theft is to tie up the culprit, rip up his belly, and leave him to die a lingering death with his bowels hanging out; and as famine is sure to be prolific of these crimes, our missionaries were sometimes witnesses of this dreadful punishment. Mrs. Judson's taste indeed for these exhibitions seems a little extraordinary. One morning they saw seven robbers thus executed. Another set of victims, for attempting to rob a pagoda, were executed in the following manner :—

Four Burmans were fastened to a high fence, first by the hair of the head and neck, their arms were then extended horizontally, as far as they could be stretched without dislocation, and a cord tied tight around them; their thighs and legs were then tied in their natural position; they were ripped open from the lowest to the highest extremity of the stomach, and their vitals and part of their bowels were hanging out; large gashes were cut in a downward direction on their sides and thighs, so as to bare the ribs and thigh bones: one, who I suppose was more guilty than the rest, had an iron instrument thrust side-long through the breast, and part of his vitals pushed out in the opposite direction. Thus, with the under jaw fallen, their eyes open and fixed, naked, excepting a small cloth round the middle, they hung dead.'-p. 85.

The following passage exhibits a different mode of execution. This afternoon we heard that seven men were carried to the place of execution. We went to witness the affecting scene. On our arrival there, we heard the report of a gun, and looking about, we saw a man tied to a tree, and six others sitting on the ground with their hands tied behind them. Observing the man at the tree, we saw a circular figure painted upon his stomach, about three inches in diameter, for a mark to shoot at, for he was to die in this way. At that moment there was another discharge of a musket, but the shot again missed; a third and fourth time he was fired at, but without effect. At every shot there was a loud peal of laughter from the surrounding spectators. He was then loosed from the tree, and a messenger sent to the governor, who returned with a reprieve. His younger brother, who was one of the seven, was then tied to the tree. The first shot slightly touched his arm; the second struck him in the heart, and he instantly expired; at the same moment the remaining five, each at one blow, were beheaded. We went close to them, and saw their trunks, and their heads, and their blood. We saw a man put his foot on one of the trunks, and press it with as little feeling as one would tread upon a beast. Their bodies were then dragged along on the ground a short distance, and their heads taken up by. the hair and removed. The two brothers, when condemned to die, requested to be shot, asking, at the same time, to be pardoned if the fourth shot should miss. The elder brother was therefore spared, while

the

the fate of the other was more lamentable. The superstitious Burmans suppose, from the circumstance of the request of the two brothers, and the escape of the elder one, that some charm prevented his death. The crimes of these poor creatures were various. One had been digging under a pagoda; another had stabbed a woman, but had not killed her; the others, as nearly as we can learn, were robbers.'-pp. 85-87.

6

It is stated that he who escaped had been shot at six times for a former offence without being hit; he was therefore considered as a wonderful man-invulnerable even by the seventh bullet'; and it seems he was in consequence raised to a high rank among the governor's attendants. Delinquents of a superior class are dispatched in a more genteel and less inhuman way, having the head severed from the body by a single stroke, at which, from constant experience, the executioner is said to be very expert. We have heard of a viceroy of Pegu being degraded, and dragged in chains to Amrapoora, because he had suffered too long a time to elapse without sending up a head, with the property belonging to it when on its body. In fact, it is here as in Turkey--when the emperor wants money, there is no lack of truncated heads at court. These despotic governments are never at a loss for some barbarous or dishonest expedient to raise funds. The religion of Boudh proscribes the use of spirits, opium, and all intoxicating drugs; but the mandates of religion are set at nought when money is scarce, and then these articles are permitted to be sold for the sake of the high duties. The Chinese do worse; they forbid the introduction of opium, at the same time that the officers of government not only connive at it, but encourage the importation, in order to levy the penalties. The Derma Sastra of the Hindoos is supposed to be the Burman statute book; but, like the Chinese, they have a particular punishment measured out according to the magnitude of each individual crime; their laws, however, are a dead letter when the will of the sovereign is proclaimed, who, according to Mrs. Judson, is regarded as the sole lord and proprietor of life and property in his dominions.'

Though the general character of the Burmans is favourably spoken of by Mrs. Judson, it is less flatteringly given than by Colonel Symes, who did not remain among them a sufficient length of time to enable him duly to appreciate their good and bad qualities. That they are more lively, more industrious, more energetic, and better informed also than most of the eastern nations, our intercourse with them for the last thirty years has afforded sufficient proof. They have neither the pusillanimity of the Hindoos and Chinese, nor that dark and revengeful malignity which characterizes the Malays. The education of the women is generally neglected, but, contrary to the practice of all other orientals,

orientals, they are not debarred from seeing and holding converse with the other sex. Almost every male person can read and write; and their books are very numerous, mostly however on religious subjects, romantic stories, astrology, music, medicine— all of them mixed with childish superstitions and accounts of supernatural events. Mr. Judson, however, tells us that some of the Burmans are powerful logicians, and take delight in investigating new subjects.' As a specimen, we extract the following dialogue from his journal:

J.—

September 30th.-Had the following conversation with my teacher. This man has been with me about three months, and is the most sensible, learned, and candid man, that I have ever found among the Burmans. He is forty-seven years of age, and his name is Oo Oungmeng. I began by saying, Mr. J— is dead. Oo.-I have heard so. J.-His soul is lost, I think. Oo.-Why so? J.-He was not a disciple of Christ. Oo.-How do you know that? You could not see his soul. J.-How do you know that the root of the mango tree is good? You cannot see it; but you can judge by the fruit on its branches. Thus I know that Mr. J was not a disciple of Christ, because his words and actions were not such as indicate the disciple. Oo.-And so all who are not disciples of Christ are lost! J.-Yes, all, whether Burmans or foreigners. Oo.-This is hard. J.-Yes, it is hard, indeed; otherwise I should not have come all this way, and left parents and all, to tell you of Christ. [He seemed to feel the force of this, and after stopping a little, he said,] How is it that the disciples of Christ are so fortunate above all men? J.-Are not all men sinners, and deserving of punishment in a future state? Oo.-Yes; all must suffer, in some future state, for the sins they commit. The punishment follows the crime, as surely as the wheel of the cart follows the footsteps of the ox. Now, according to the Burman system, there is no escape. According to the Christian system there is. Jesus Christ has died in the place of sinners, has borne their sins; and now those who believe on him, and become his disciples, are released from the punishment they deserve. At death they are received into heaven, and are happy for ever. Oo. That I will never believe. My mind is very stiff on this one point, namely, that all existence involves in itself principles of misery and destruction. J.-Teacher, there are two evil futurities, and one good. A miserable future existence is evil, and annihilation or nigban is an evil, a fearful evil. A happy future existence is alone good. Oo.-I admit that it is best, if it could be perpetual; but it cannot be. Whatever is, is liable to change, and misery and destruction. Nigban is the only permanent good, and that good has been attained by Gaudama, the last deity. J.-If there be no eternal Being, you cannot account for any thing. Whence this world, and all that we see? Oo.-Fate. J.-Fate! the cause must always be equal to the effect. See, I raise this table; see, also, that ant under it suppose I were invisible; would a wise man say the ant raised it? Now fate is not even an ant. Fate is a word, that is all. It is not an agent, not a thing. What is fate? Oo. The fate of

creatures,

creatures, is the influence which their good or bad deeds have on their future existence. J.-If influence be exerted, there must be an exerter. If there be a determination, there must be a determiner. Oo.-No; there is no determiner. There cannot be an eternal Being. J.-Consider this point. It is a main point of true wisdom. Whenever there is an execution of a purpose, there must be an agent. Oo.-[After a little thought] I must say that my mind is very decided and hard, and, unless you tell me something more to the purpose, I shall never believe. J.-Well, teacher, I wish you to believe, not for my profit, but for yours. I daily pray the true God to give you light, that you may believe. Whether you will ever believe in this world I don't know, but when you die I know you will believe what I now say. You will then appear before the God you now deny. Oo.—I don't know that.'--pp. 49-52. Mrs. Judson gives an account of the great feast of Gaudama, which continues for three days, at which all the country round attends, with the viceroy and his officers in state; these days are spent in amusements, such as boxing, dancing, singing; theatrical shows are exhibited, and innumerable fireworks discharged. After describing the splendid pagoda, she says

The ground on which this pagoda is situated, commands a view of the surrounding country, which presents one of the most beautiful landscapes in nature. The polished spires of the pagodas, glistening among the trees at a distance, appear like the steeples of meeting-houses in our American sea-ports. The verdant appearance of the country, the hills and valleys, ponds and rivers, the banks of which are covered with cattle and fields of rice; each in their turn attract the eye, and cause the beholder to exclaim, "Was this delightful country made to be the residence of idolaters?" '-p. 102.

In

Our worthy missionaries, however, mistake the tenets of the Boudhists with regard to a future existence; the nigban is not, as they say, annihilation, or a state in which existence ceases; it is merely a state of rest--of perfect tranquillity-free from pain and undisturbed by the passions: such as is meant to be represented in the images which we see of Boudh or of Gaudama, sitting with legs and arms crossed and with closed eyes. this respect there is a great difference between the gods of the Brahmins and of the Boudhists, the former being always represented in a state of activity, either for good or for evil; whereas the latter are always quiescent. To arrive at this blissful state, the soul must undergo a vast number of migrations, and suffer various torments, until, after a long series of ages, it becomes purified from all its defilements, and is then received on the Mountain Meru, the Elysium of the Boudhists, where the mind reposes on an unruffled sea of bliss.' The name, which the Burmans have given to their capital, contradicts the idea of annihilation-Amrapoora, the city of the immortals; and the sovereign

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