not far from the mission-house!

In still greater contrast was the first funeral among the converts of the
mission-house--that of a man named Gokool. The native custom is that the
dead are always carried to burial by persons of their own caste, and it
is intense defilement for one of another caste to touch the body.
Christians were always carried by the lowest class of the Portuguese, who
had fallen into so degraded a state that they were usually known by their
own word for poor, "pobre," and were despised by the whole population.
They were generally drunk and disorderly, and their rudeness,
irreverence, and quarrels were a scandal to the solemn occasion. Mr.
Marshman, who was in charge of the mission at the time in Mr. Carey's
absence, had some difficulty in persuading the Hindoo converts that it
was no shame, but a charitable work, to bear a brother's body to its last
resting-place, even though they were seen doing the work of the despised
pobres. Accordingly he resolved to set the example, and the corpse of
the convert, within a coffin covered with white muslin, was carried to
the burial-ground by Marshman, Felix Carey, a baptized Brahmin, and a
baptized Hindoo, all the procession singing a Bengalee Christian hymn.

The most remarkable events that befell the Serampore Mission from this
time were either domestic, or related to their connection with the
College at Fort William, and the sanction they received from Government.
Lord Wellesley went home in 1805, Colonel Bie died the same year, and
these were most serious losses to the cause of the Serampore mission.
Lord Wellesley had followed his own judgment, and carried things with a
high hand, often against the will of the East India Company, and there
was a strong desire to reverse his policy. His successor, Lord
Cornwallis, died two months after landing, and Sir George Barlow, who
carried on the government in the interregnum, though a good man, had not
force enough to withstand the dislike of the Anglo-Indians to the
mission. Mr. Ward made an attempt at Calcutta to preach in Hindoo in a
chapel, the ground of which had been purchased by the missionaries, but
as he walked through the streets the people shouted, "That's the Hindoo
padre; why dost thou destroy the caste of the people?" And when, two
Sundays later, a preacher of Brahmin birth appeared, there were loud
cries of indignation. "O vagabond," cried one man, "why didst thou not
come to my house? I would