"I shall ever rejoice in what I have witnessed of the power of divine grace amongst the heathen. A number of precious souls have been rescued from Satan's power; and one, I trust, has gone home to heaven, though not permitted to join the church below.
"The native Christians here now number twenty-three, twelve of whom have been baptized the present year. A few are still inquiring; but the multitude are going on the broad way to eternal death.
"During the dry season the assistants visited, more than once, all the villages about these mountains; and I think, from what I could judge by spending most of the time with them, the truth was faithfully declared and the way of life made plain. At Tunpuhtine and Puhaung some have been gathered in; at Tunlopun are some hopeful cases, as well as at Pahleen and Pompeah.
"Evening and morning worship has been kept up all the time, and worship on the Sabbath, with Sabbath schools, &c.
"Bah-mee, whom I selected for the purpose from amongst the first converts, and who has thus far justified my expectations, has been my principal means of communication with the people. I have taken unwearied pains with him, giving him every means in my power for instruction; and I am daily comforted in seeing that it has not been in vain. He is much engaged about the vicinity we lately visited, on a branch of the Dah Gyieng, and I trust his labors there have been blessed. But experience has often shown that natives, however efficient with teachers, are but children if left alone.
"Ko Chung-paw, two years ago, was fast going down the declivity of life in all the darkness of heathenism; but a ray of heavenly light darted across his path, arrested his attention, and soon kindled to a flame. Now, I may say, he is a 'burning and a shining light;' one to whom we often point as a witness of the power and purity of the religion of Jesus Christ."
Miss Macomber died in April, 1840. The closing scenes of her life were full of sadness and full of glory. Her death was deeply lamented by those who knew her worth; and many of the Dong-Yahn women came to her funeral, crying, "The mamma is dead! the mamma is dead!" and with wails of sorrow surrounded her grave. They had listened to her counsels, they had experienced her kindness, they had partaken of her hospitality; and, though many of them did not love the Savior, they mourned the fall of his servant. Their nation had sustained an irreparable loss; and they came to pay their last tribute of respect to the ashes of the departed. The last hours of Miss Macomber are thus described by Rev. S. M. Osgood, who was at Maulmain at the time of her death. The account, from the pen of one who witnessed the whole scene, will be read with deep interest. Mr. Osgood says,—
"It becomes my painful duty to announce to you the death of our dear sister E. Macomber, who died with jungle fever on the evening of the 16th instant, after an illness of nine days aged thirty-nine years.
"On the 9th of March Miss Macomber came down from Dong-Yahn with brother Stevens, and on the morning of the 10th left us again, with a view to visit a body of Pgwo Karens, residing high up one of the rivers. She had also a particular reference to spending the hottest part of the season on the river, having suffered much from the extreme heat at Dong-Yahn during the hot season last year. On the 4th instant she returned from this excursion, having enjoyed excellent health and a peculiarly pleasant season in labor for the good of the souls of the Karens, many of whom listened with much interest, and were 'almost persuaded to be Christians.'
"She arrived here late in the evening, and appeared quite well, with the exception of a slight cold, which she said she had taken that evening. On Sunday, the 5th, she complained of headache, but not so severe as to prevent her attendance upon the usual religious exercises of the day; and on Monday, after spending some hours with me in the bazaar, she left, and started on her return to Dong-Yahn. Before she arrived, however, her illness grew more violent, and, though it subsequently abated for a time, became again so decided that on the following Wednesday she was removed to this place by Christian Karens for the purpose of obtaining medical aid. Nothing remarkable or alarming was then discovered in her symptoms; and Doctor Charlton, the medical gentleman who was called in, expressed the fullest confidence that her disease would yield to the ordinary course of treatment, and that she would soon be able to resume her labors. But she thought otherwise; and although she did not express any conviction during two or three of the first days that the disease would prove fatal, she afterwards told me repeatedly that she had not from the first had the least expectation of recovery.