had intended, with the expression of a wish, that we may frequently have to greet Moritz Retzsch as a pictorial illustrator of the great poets of his own country:-out of that circle his wand, though not broken, is less potent.

Art. IV.-). Memoirs of American Missionaries. With an Introductory Essay by the Rev. Gavin Struthers. And a Dissertation on the Consolations of a Missionary. By the Rev. Levi Parsons. 18mo. pp. xlvii., 219. Glasgow, 1834.

2. North American Review. No. LXXXVII., April, 1835, Article, Life of G. D. Boardman.

THE

HE American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions was organized in the year 1810. It owes its origin to four members of the Theological Seminary at Andover, Massachusetts, who, having devoted themselves to the propagation of the Gospel among the heathen, sought advice of their fathers in the ministry as to the best mode of accomplishing their design. This occasioned the appointment of the Board. It was not, however, deemed at all practicable to raise funds in the United States, sufficient to warrant the sending out of these four young men as missionaries without some foreign guarantee. One of the first steps taken by the Board, therefore, was to depute one of them to come to England, to ascertain whether he and his brethren could be supported for a time, if necessary, by the London Missionary Society.

Meanwhile, an effort was made at home by the Board, which met with an unexpected degree of success; and in 1812, five missionaries embarked for India at the expense of the American Churches. They have since been followed by no fewer than EIGHTY preachers of the Gospel, sent out by the same Board, besides physicians, printers, and other assistants. Fifteen distinct missions have been established, including fifty missionary stations; and the total number of labourers, male and female, now in foreign service, and dependent on funds placed at the disposal of the Board, is 235.

The Board is composed of 66 clergymen and laymen, belonging to the Presbyterian, Congregational, and Dutch Reformed Churches in the following proportions: Presbyterians, 31; Congregationalists, 28; Dutch Reformed, 7. The missions class under four heads-the Mediterranean, the East Indies, the Islands of the Pacific, and the North American Indians.

The interesting little collection of memoirs from which we extract these brief details, has been compiled and published under the superintendence of the Missionary Society in connexion with the

Andover Theological Institution. It comprises, besides the Introductory matter, short notices of forty-two missionaries, among whom are several whose names have become familiar to English readers; as Gordon Hall; A. Judson; Samuel Newell; Levi Parsons; Pliny Fisk; Jonas King; Isaac Bird; and the joint Authors of the Researches in Armenia. Some of the number have entered into rest; but the greater part are still enduring the burden and heat of the day. The volume is well adapted to awaken feelings of Christian sympathy, and to stimulate to holy emulation; and we cordially recommend it as a very suitable volume for all our vestry libraries.

Our immediate object, however, in the present article, is to introduce to the notice of our readers, a very touching and peculiarly interesting piece of missionary biography not contained in this collection, nor, so far as we are aware, hitherto printed in this country. We are indebted for an account of the volume itself to an article in the last Number of the North American Review; and in the following pages, we shall take the liberty of borrowing very freely from that Article, which, if our limits would permit, we should make no scruple in transferring entire to our pages; feeling assured that our readers would thank us for doing so, and that we should have the free permission of our Contemporary on the other side of the great water.

George Dana Boardman was born at Livermore, Maine, Feb. 8, 1801. His father is a Baptist clergyman, who survives him. He was a feeble and studious boy, ardently devoted to the pursuit of knowledge; sometimes concealing bodily illness in order to get to school, and always securing the esteem of his teachers by his proficiency. At the age of sixteen, he became a teacher in a village school; and at eighteen, he entered the collegiate institution at Waterville in his native State. During his col legiate course, he became truly pious, and under the influence of the Spirit of God, consecrated himself to the service of religion. In July 1820, he was baptized on the public profession of his faith. Not long afterwards, his thoughts and feelings were turned to the subject of missions to the heathen. The condition of the Western Indians at first engaged his meditations; but in 1822, his mind was especially directed, by the death of the Rev. Mr. Colman, to the Burmese Mission; and to his great delight, on offering his services to the Missionary Board, Burmah was assigned to him as the field of his future labours.

In June 1823, Mr. Boardman was sent to the Theological Seminary at Andover, to complete his preparatory qualifications

• Memoir of George Dana Boardman, late Missionary to Burmah. Boston, 1834.

for the work to which he had devoted himself; where he remained, with occasional interruptions, till the Spring of 1825. A young lady of Salem, zealously attached, like himself, to the missionary cause, consented to unite her fortunes to his, and they were married a short time previous to embarking for India, On the 16th of July, they sailed for Calcutta. On arriving there, they found the American mission in Burmah broken up, in consequence of the war then raging between the British and the Burmese, so that it was impossible to proceed at once to their original destination. They accordingly resolved to take up their abode with Mr, and Mrs. Wade, (who had been compelled to seek shelter within British jurisdiction,) at Chitpore, near Calcutta, and there to prosecute the study of the Burmese language till the close of the war, During the twenty months which Mr. Boardman passed in the neighbourhood of Calcutta, besides studying the language, he preached continually to congregations of English residents and English and American sailors; and by communion with elder missionaries of greater experience, prepared himself for his approaching labours. At length, the termination of the war was announced, and the hearts of all the friends to Missions were filled with joy on learning the safety of Dr. Price and Mr. and Mrs. Judson, who had been held prisoners in Ava, and over whose fate, for two years, an impenetrable cloud had rested. It was not, however, till March 1827, that Mr. Boardman found himself able to enter upon his long-cherished enterprise. He met Mr. Judson at Amherst, the newly built capital of the territories ceded to Great Britain by the Burmese emperor at the termination of the war; situated near the mouth of the Martaban river, about twenty-five miles below the city of Maulmein. This place had been surveyed and laid out, under the direction of Mr. Judson, by British engineers; and in an incredibly brief period had become a city of many thousand inhabitants *. In India, the building of a house requires but a few ' hours' labour, and the population fluctuates strangely from place ' to place. It is necessary only to make a clearing in the jungle, and erect barracks for a few soldiers, and, as water rushes at once into hollows scooped in the damp sea-sand, so do the

If this site had been well chosen, it would be, we believe, the first instance of such good fortune. Calcutta, Madras, and almost every city founded by English colonists, are badly situated; and Amherst would seem not to be an exception, since we find it afterwards stated, that the population was rapidly decreasing, and flowing into Maulmein. There is always a strong presumption against the eligibility of a site not pre-occupied by a native town; and it is dangerous to act in despite of it.

'swarming natives of India crowd by thousands into the clearing, ' and create a city.' On consultation with Mr. Judson and Mr. Wade, it was determined that two mission stations should be commenced; one by Mr. Wade at Amherst, another by Mr. Boardman in Maulmein, between which Mr. Judson was to divide his care. Mr. and Mrs. Boardman accordingly proceeded, on the 28th of May, to Maulmein, the native population of which was at that time supposed to amount to 20,000. One year before, it was a thick jungle, without an inhabitant! On the western bank of the river which separates the British and Burmese territories, opposite to Maulmein, stands the deserted city of Martaban; now the lurking-place of hordes of robbers, who are continually crossing over at night for the sake of plunder. Mr. Boardman had not been a month at Maulmein, before he received a nocturnal visit from these marauders, who seem to rival the Decoits of Bengal in dexterity; and they carried off every portable article of value. After this robbery, a guard of two sepoys was stationed in his house. But they were exposed to other dangers. The silence of midnight was almost constantly broken by the howling of wild beasts; and one evening, Mrs. Wade narrowly escaped being carried off by a tiger, in crossing their little garden.

At Maulmein, Mr. Boardman, who had now acquired a tolerable knowledge of the language, devoted his time to the reception and instruction of those natives who were curious to learn of the foreign teacher what he had come so far to teach. He was continually surrounded by these inquirers. In October, he was joined by Mr. and Mrs. Wade and Mr. Judson, from Amherst, which was fast losing its population. Before the close of the year, two schools, one for each sex, had been established, and two places of worship erected, in which Mr. Wade and Mr. Judson were daily employed either in proclaiming the truths of the Gospel or in distributing tracts. Three native converts were baptized in the course of a few months, and several more were candidates for baptism; so that the labours of the Missionaries were not unattended with

success.

On the 8th of March, 1828, Mr. and Mrs. Boardman were threatened with destruction from a new and unanticipated source of danger. Just as they were lighting their evening lamps, they heard the noise of a mighty rushing wind' approaching, and, on going to the door, discovered that the whole range of hills eastward was enveloped in flames, which, with the roaring sound of a hurricane, rapidly spread through the thick and dry grass and undergrowth of the jungle, toward their bamboo cottage. As the fire flew on the wings of the wind from point to point, it seemed that nothing could rescue the house from its fury. Mr. and Mrs. B. hastily packed up a few valuable articles, and prepared to retreat

from the devouring element. Their regret at being thus driven from their home was accompanied with a fear lest their path should be beset with the tigers, leopards, and other wild beasts, which were expelled from their usual haunts by the flames. The fire continued to advance till within a few feet of the houses, when providentially the wind ceased, and its progress was arrested. Thus we are again preserved,' says Mrs. B., when no human arm could have saved us!' The feelings of a husband were on this occasion associated with the love of a father.

Twenty-one days after this occurrence, Mr. and Mrs. Boardman were once more without a home, pilgrims and wanderers. In accordance with the plans adopted by the Missionary Board at home, it was resolved that a new station should be established at Tavoy, the capital of another of the ceded provinces, lying at the head of the peninsula which separates the Bay of Bengal from the Gulf of Siam. To this city, it was deemed advisable to send Mr. Boardman; and as duty seemed to require his consent, he gave it cheerfully, though at no small sacrifice of feeling, as he had become attached to Maulmein and the little band of scholars and converts collected there, and was now, moreover, to be parted from his beloved colleagues. On arriving at Tavoy with Mrs. Boardman and his infant daughter, he was kindly received by Mr. Burney, the British commissioner; and within ten days, he was quietly settled in a new home, and had begun to preach in Burmese to curious crowds of the worshippers of Gaudama Boodha. But it afterwards appeared that he was brought hither by Divine Providence, as an instrument of communicating the glad tidings to a race of outcasts, upon whom even the Burmese themselves look down with contempt, although with very questionable claims to any moral superiority.

Soon after Mr. Boardman was established in Tavoy, he was brought into contact with the Karens', a race quite distinct from the inhabitants of the plains, and of whom, hitherto, little or nothing has been known. They are referred to by Col. Symes and other travellers under the name of Carayn or Karians, and have been supposed to be, like the Puharrees of Bengal and the Bheels of Guzerat, an aboriginal race of mountaineers, who have receded before more martial intruders. Recent inquiry has, however, detected among this despised race, the existence of a traditional literature, and the unquestionable traces of ancient civilization; and what is highly remarkable, their traditions would seem, with high probability, to identify them with some scattered portion of the Hebrew family. The existence of two distinct races of Jews in the Indian Peninsula, renders this fact by no means incredible; and the following particulars, which we give on the authority and in the language of the writer in the American Journal, render it

VOL. XIV.-N.S.

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