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ther image in human shape of a smaller size having a tow beneath its feet. I have also seen some with three heads and a number of arms, perhaps ten or upwards, holding in each hand a different kind of weapon. Also some which had but one head, and many arms. To these I observed the sepoys paid their reverence; they would burn lamps before them, and paint them with different colours.

Some, who pretend to possess a complete knowledge of the Indian mythology, say that the old religion of Java was not entire Brahmunism, but a mixture of Boodhism and Brahmunism. And I have also observed in the Javanese books, that they call the old heathen religion, before Mahometanism was introduced, Boodhism, and from that is derived the Javanese word for a heathen, which is Boodha, that is, a heathen. It must be observed, that all the features of the faces of those remaining images are not the features of the Javanese, but of the Bengalees or Siamese.

I have also seen words engraved on stones brought from an old temple in the mountains, which resembled neither the Javanese characters, nor the Sungskrit. Some say that it is the square Siamese character which is found in these old temples. Had I thought of it at the time I saw them that I should write about them to some one in Bengal, who might have an opportunity of decyphering these characters, I could have made a copy from them, and we might have got some important information respecting the antiquity of the Javanese, or at least about the time when heathenism was introduced here from Siam or Bengal. But now I am not in the way to get any of these inscriptions, and I cannot now give any more particulars about these remains: were I to investigate them again, my observations would be more particular,

VI. Letter from the Rev. Mr. Hands to Mrs. Marshman respecting the death of Mrs. Hands.

My dear Madam,

Bellary, Aug. 19, 1818. If our kind friend Mrs. M. has not as yet

left Calcutta, you have been before this, made acquainted with

the distressing loss which I have experienced. Your affectionate sister and my beloved wife is no more; on the 1st instant her happy spirit ascended to her Saviour and her rest. Enclosed is a copy of a paper I drew up to send to our dear friends in Eng. land. As the last words of a dying friend are precious, I doubt not, the account will be interesting to you and the friends at Serampore, who were acquainted with the dear deceased. She loved and esteemed you all much, and to the last period of her life spoke with gratitude of the kindness and affection she experienced from your family in the time of her distress and widowhood. But she has now done with sorrow and suffering, and with those dear friends who preceded her, is now singing Eternal glories to the King, who brought us safely through.' Happy season, when I shall rise to join with them in the everlasting song! The Lord has been very gracious to me during this heavy trial, or I should have sunk beneath it. I hope the language of my heart is, 'Not my will, but thine be done.' What an irreparable loss to me, to my dear little ones, and to the whole mission family. Oh! when I look at the dear babes, who so much need the care of an affec tionate pious mother, my soul mourns; but the Lord my covenant God and Father has done it, and I find consolation in rolling my carés and sorrows upon him who hath said, 'He careth for us.'

I should have written to you sooner, but anxiety and grief have so much injured my health and depressed my spirits, that for some time past I have been scarcely able to do any thing, and the doctor has prohibited my sitting to write or study much. I suffer much from pain in my side, and often think it will not be long ere I follow my beloved Sarah, though for the sake of my dear little ones, and the good work in which God has graciously employed me, I could wish to remain a few years longer in this vale of tears. The Lord was very gracious to my dearest wife in her last moments: some days before her death she mentioned how much she dreaded the struggle she feared she should suffer in the trying hour, but her death was like falling into a gentle sleep, no struggle, groan, or sigh was perceived. She also suffered much

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when she thought of leaving her dear little ones and her husband, and said, she knew not how to give them up; but on the day she departed, she said, 'it is wonderful how the Lord has relieved my mind from this burden, I can now leave all with him.' She was much delighted by the receipt of your affectionate letter, and wish. ed much to have answered it; but was unable. The last letter she wrote was fifteen days before her death, to dear Augustus, of whose safe arrival in England we had heard the day before; the accounts we have received of him are exceedingly pleasing. The kind friend who took him home was a father to him all the voyage he is now at Mill-Hill school, under the patronage of our society, and appears the same mild, amiable pleasing child as when he left us. All our friends in England are quite delighted with him, and he with them. Had my dear Sarah recovered sufficient. ly, we proposed to have removed for a time after the monsoon to Bangalore, where we have thoughts of attempting a new mission. The dear children are all well, with the exception of the youngest, and she we hope is now fast recovering. We were grieved to find that you for some time past have been so much troubled with the liver complaint; I hope your health is now restored. God grant it may be many years ere your dear partner experiences the painful separation I have doue. Please to present my kindest re gards to Dr. M. and to your son John, (with whom I once had the pleasure of corresponding), also to Dr. Carey and to all the Mission family, though personally unknown. will all feel for and sympathize with an afflicted brother, and I hope give me and mine an interest in their prayers. My colleague Mr. Reeve and his amiable wife, request their kind regards to you. It is a great comfort to me that I have a kind brother and sister with me.

I doubt not they

I remain, &c.

W. HANDS.

Account of Mrs. Hands's last illness.

During the last twelve months it hath pleased God to exercise

dear Mrs. Hands with much affliction.

Since her confinement

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in June last she has been much subject to bilious obstructions, and though every means was used by a kind and skilful physician to remove them, they increased to such a degree as to produce in February last the jaundice, with which she was afflicted nearly two months, and which with the powerful medicines that were necessary to remove it, brought her so low that we feared she would not recover; but the voice of prayer was heard, and she was so far restored as to be able in the beginning of May to take a journey of forty miles with me to the Hindoo festival at Bisnaghur. The journey and change of air appeared to have benefited her, and we hoped her health would soon be established. Soon after this our youngest child was taken ill with a fever and bowel complaint from teething, and was quickly reduced to such a state, that for five weeks we daily expected her death. This occasioned her dear mother much anxiety and fatigue, which, with the excessive heat which prevailed at that time, not a little injured her health. I wished much to have removed her and the child to another station for a season, for change of air; but the doctor pronounced the child to be too weak to bear the journey. During the, month of June, Mrs. Hands was often ailing, but generally able to attend to the duties of the family. In the former part of July she was frequently troubled with a bowel complaint; but not so as to occasion any very serious apprehensions until about the 20th, when the complaint, though every means had been used to remove it, assumed a more alarming appearance, and began to be attended with extreme pain and sickness at her stomach, so as to make her reject all food; though the best medical assistance was rendered.* She was soon reduced so low as to be confined to her bed. She continued gradually to decline; but much prayer was made on her behalf, and we hoped, by the Divine blessing on the means used, she might yet be restored. On the 28th she began to com

*Dr. Owen, the Garrison Surgeon at Bellary, a very kind and much esteemed friend of ours, during the latter part of her illness, visited her three and often four times a day, and left no means untried that were likely to be useful to him we are under the greatest obligations.

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plain of acute pain in her right side, which indicated' an affection of the liver; the usual remedies in such cases were resorted to, but without effect; for the pain, accompanied with violent fever and vomiting, continued until Saturday noon the 1st of August, when an abscess which had formed in the liver burst, and nearly three pints of its contents were thrown up from the stomach; nature now very rapidly sunk, and about a quarter after three in the afternoon she breathed her last.

For several days previous to the departure of my dear wife, she was unable to speak much; for beside excessive weakness and constant pain, the nature of her complaint and the medicines used to counteract it, produced a degree of stupor which almost incapacitated her for thought and reflection. This grieved her much. A few days before her death, she lamented the darkness of her mind, and the want of satisfactory evidence of her being a child of God. I endeavoured to confort her, and remove her doubts, by referring her to past experience, and repeated to her part of the 42d Psalm, and afterwards read to her, Buck on the Review of .past Experience, which seemed to revive her. She lamented that the cares of a large family had too much engrossed her mind, and that she had not lived so near to God as in times past, and there fore God had withdrawn from her the light of his countenance. She expressed her fear that she should not recover, and said though she desired to live for the sake of her family and the cause, yet if it was the will of God, and he would graciously remove the cloud from her mind, she was willing to die. On Thursday the 30th, during the night, she was for a short season delirious, and once at tempted to sing; the tune was that mournful one, Walsal; the words were pronounced so very indistinctly I could not understand them. Some time after the fever abated, and she became composed. In the course of the night I read to her the dying experience and expressions of several eminent saints, and several of her favourite hymns, and spoke to her of the power and compassion of the Saviour; these seemed to afford her much comfort. I said to her, 'My dear, if you had a Saviour now to seek, how sad would be your

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