e western hills, that it laid the whole country for about a
hundred miles in length and the same in breadth, under water. The
Ganges was filled by the flood, so as to spread far on every side.
Serampore was under water; we had three feet of water in our garden for
seven or eight days. Almost all the houses of the natives in that vast
extent of country fell; their cattle were swept away, and the people,
men, women, and children. Some gained elevated spots, where the water
still rose so high as to threaten them with death; others climbed
trees, and some floated on the roofs of their ruined houses. One of
the Church missionaries, Mr. Jetter, who had accompanied Mr. Thomason
and some other gentlemen to Burdwan to examine the schools there,
called on me on his return and gave me a most distressing account of
the fall of houses, the loss of property, the violent rushing of
waters, so that none, not even the best swimmers, dared to leave the
place where they were.

"This inundation was very destructive to the Mission house, or rather
the Mission premises. A slip of the earth (somewhat like that of an
avalanche), took place on the bank of the river near my house, and
gradually approached it until only about ten feet of space were left
between that and the house; and that space soon split. At last two
fissures appeared in the foundation and wall of the house itself. This
was a signal for me to remove; and a house built for a professor in the
College being empty, I removed to it, and through mercy am now
comfortably settled there.

"I have nearly filled my letter with this account, but I must give you
a short account of the state of my mind when I could think, and that
was generally when excited by an access of friends; at other times I
could scarcely speak or think. I concluded one or two days that my
death was near. I had no joys; nor any fear of death, or reluctance to
die; but never was I so sensibly convinced of the value of an ATONING
Saviour as then. I could only say, 'Hangs my helpless soul on thee;'
and adopt the language of the first and second verses of the
fifty-first Psalm, which I desired might be the text for my funeral
sermon. A life of faith in Christ as the Lamb of God who taketh away
the sin of the world, appeared more than ordinarily important to my
mind, and I expressed these feelings to those about me with freedom and
pleasure.

"Now, through the gracious providence of God, I am again restored