powder magazine and gun-shed, which were very near our house, but a guard of sepoys had repelled them.  This was a great mercy, for had the insurgents obtained the arms and ammunition, our situation would have been most deplorable.  A second party of 60 had attacked the house of the principal native officer of the town, while a third party had fallen upon the guard of the prison, and let loose all the prisoners, one hundred in number, who, as soon as their irons were knocked off, became the most desperate of all the insurgents.” ...

The commissioner of the province was absent at Maulmain, but his lady, Mrs. Burney, urged their immediate removal to the government house.  They hesitated at first, thinking the rebellion might soon be quelled; but hearing from a rebel prisoner that the whole province was engaged in the insurrection, and that large reinforcements might be hourly expected to join the rebels, and finding that the Mission premises from their situation, were likely to be the very battleground of the contending parties,—­after seeking Divine direction, they concluded to abandon them.  He continues his narrative, “We caught up a few light articles on which we could lay our hands, and with the native Christians, fled as if for our lives.  I visited the house once or twice after this, and saved a few clothes and papers, but the firing being near, rendered it hazardous to remain, and the last time I went, I found the house had been plundered.  A large part of our books, furniture and clothes, which had remained behind were either taken away or destroyed.

“We had been at the government house but a short time, when it was agreed to evacuate the town and retire to the wharf.  In the hurry of our second removal, many things which we had brought from our house, were necessarily left, to fall into the hands of the plunderers.  We soon found ourselves at the wharf,—­a large wooden building of six rooms, into which, besides the Europeans, were huddled all the sepoys with their baggage and ours, and several hundreds of women and children belonging to Portuguese and others, who looked to the English for protection.  Our greatest danger at this time arose from having in one of the rooms where many were to sleep, and all of us were continually passing, several hundred barrels of gunpowder, to which if fire should be communicated accidentally by ourselves, or mischievously by others, we should all perish at once.  The next danger was from the rebels, who if they could either rush upon us, or take us by surprise or stratagem, would doubtless massacre us all on the spot.  We lifted up our hearts to God, and he heard us from his holy habitation.  We were preserved in safety through the night, though anxious and sleepless.  All our attempts to communicate intelligence of our situation to the people in Maulmain and Mergui were defeated, and the heavy rains soon affected the health of the sepoys.  We had but a small supply