ned a covered boat, in which we were
tolerably comfortable, till within two miles of the government house. I
then procured a cart; but the violent motion, together with the dreadful
heat and dust; made me almost distracted. But what was my disappointment
on my arriving at the court house, to find that the prisoners had been
sent on two hours before, and that I must go in that uncomfortable mode
four miles further with little Maria in my arms, whom I held all the way
from Ava. The cart man refused to go any further; and after waiting an
hour in the burning sun, I procured another, and set off for that never
to be forgotten place, Oung-pen-la. I obtained a guide from the governor
and was conducted directly to the prison-yard. But what a scene of
wretchedness was presented to my view! The prison was an old shattered
building, without a roof; the fence was entirely destroyed; eight or ten
Burmese were on the top of the building, trying to make something like a
shelter with the leaves; while under a little low projection outside of
the prison sat the foreigners, chained together two and two, almost dead
with suffering and fatigue. The first words of your brother were, 'Why
have you come? I hoped you would not follow, for you cannot live here.'
It was now dark. I had no refreshment for the suffering prisoners, or
for myself, as I had expected to procure all that was necessary at the
market of Amarapora, and I had no shelter for the night. I asked one of
the jailers if I might put up a little bamboo house near the prisoners;
he said no, it was not customary. I then begged he would procure me a
shelter for the night, when on the morrow I could find some place to
live in. He took me to his house, in which there were only two small
rooms--one in which he and his family lived--the other, which was then
half full of grain, he offered to me; and in that little filthy place, I
spent the next six months of wretchedness. I procured some half boiled
water, instead of my tea, and, worn out with fatigue, laid myself down
on a mat spread over the paddy, and endeavoured to obtain a little
refreshment from sleep. The next morning your brother gave me the
following account of the brutal treatment he had received on being taken
out of prison.

"As soon as I had gone out at the call of the governor, one of the
jailers rushed into Mr. J's little room--roughly seized him by the
arm--pulled him out--stripped him of all his clothes, excepting shirt