such
that any strangers going among them must take their lives in their
hands, Notwithstanding this they determined, after due inquiry, to go to
Penang, and thence to attempt to find access to the country. It was
necessary first to go to Madras, in order to find a vessel which would
take them eastwards. But on arriving at Madras they found that it would
be impossible to procure a passage to Penang; so they took passage in a
ship that was going to Rangoon, and after some adventures reached the
field of their future work in July, 1813. "We cannot expect to do much
in such a rough, uncultivated field," wrote Mrs. Judson, "yet if we may
be instrumental in clearing away some of the rubbish and preparing the
way for others, it will be sufficient reward."

CHAPTER III.

PREPARATION TIME.

Mr. and Mrs. Judson might well have been excused had they hesitated to
settle in Rangoon, for the prospects before them in that place were
anything but hopeful. The Emperor of Burmah was an absolute monarch, and
rumour gave him the credit of being unjust, tyrannical, grasping,
capricious and cruel. The people were described as "indolent,
inhospitable, deceitful and crafty;" and in spite of the natural wealth
of the land the majority of the inhabitants were miserably poor. This
was largely due to the fact that all property was held on the most
uncertain tenure, everything being liable to be seized at any time by
the emperor or by some of his officials.

More than one unsuccessful attempt had been made to form a missionary
settlement in Rangoon previous to the arrival of the Judsons. Preachers
had been sent out from Serampore, and by the London Missionary Society;
but none of them had been able to occupy the field for any length of
time. When the Judsons arrived there was only one other Christian
teacher in Burmah, Mr. Felix Carey, who was then at Ava, the residence
of the emperor. Mrs. Carey, a native of the country, was staying at
Rangoon, in a house built by the Serampore Baptist missionaries, and she
welcomed the new-comers to her home, where they stayed for some months.

The first work to which the Judsons set themselves was the study of the
Burmese tongue. This was a task of extreme difficulty, for the only part
of the language put into writing which would help them was a small
portion of a grammar and six chapters of St. Matthew's Gospel, which had
been translated by Mr. Felix Carey. Even with all the aids at present in
use,