After they had joined the other missionaries at Amherst, Maulmain was
determined upon as the scene of their future labors, and thither they
repaired. The dangers that encompassed their new residence were such as
in the presence of which even stout hearts might have been excused for
quailing. The mission-house was a slight structure of bamboos,
constituting scarcely any obstruction to assailants disposed to effect
an entrance, and in such close proximity to the jungle that the
slumbers of the missionaries were frequently disturbed by the howling of
the wild beasts, whose lairs had so recently given place to human
habitations. Maulmain was then a new city that had suddenly sprung into
existence within the territory ceded to the British.
They had been settled in their new abode but a few weeks, when it was
entered in the night by robbers, who overhauled all their effects, and
carried away most of their valuables while they slept.
Mrs. Boardman, speaking of the event, says: "After the first amazement
had a little subsided, I raised my eyes to the curtains surrounding our
bed, and, to my indescribable emotion, saw two large holes cut, the one
at the head and the other at the foot of the place where my dear husband
had been sleeping. From that moment I quite forgot the stolen goods, and
thought only of the treasure that was spared.
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