On May 30 the Rev. Henry Martyn arrived at our bungalow. The
former chaplain had proceeded to the presidency, and we were so
highly favoured as to have Mr. Martyn appointed in his place. I
am not aware whether we expected him, but certainly not at the
time when he did appear. It was in the morning, and we were
situated as above described, the desert winds blowing like fire
without, when we suddenly heard the quick steps of many bearers.
Mr. Sherwood ran out to the leeward of the house, and exclaimed,
'Mr. Martyn!' The next moment I saw him leading in that
excellent man, and saw our visitor, a moment afterwards, fall
down in a fainting fit. He had travelled in a palanquin from
Dinapore, and the first part of the way he moved only by night.
But between Cawnpore and Allahabad, being a hundred and thirty
miles, there is no resting-place, and he was compelled for two
days and two nights to journey on in his palanquin, exposed to
the raging heat of a fiery wind. He arrived, therefore, quite
exhausted, and actually under the influence of fever. There was
not another family in Cawnpore except ours to which he could
have gone with pleasure; not because any family would have
denied shelter to a countryman in such a condition, but, alas!
they were only Christians in name. In his fainting state Mr.
Martyn could not have retired to the sleeping-room which we
caused to be prepared immediately for him, because we had no
means of cooling any sleeping-room so thoroughly as we could the
hall. We, therefore, had a couch set for him in the hall. There
he was laid, and very ill he was for a day or two. The hot winds
left us, and we had a close, suffocating calm. Mr. Martyn could
not lift his head from the couch. In our bungalow, when shut up
as close as it could be, we could not get the thermometer under
96°, though the punkah was constantly going. When Mr. Martyn got
a little better he became very cheerful, and seemed quite happy
with us all about him. He commonly lay on his couch in the hall
during the morning, with many books near to his hand, and
amongst these always a Hebrew Bible and a Greek Testament. Soon,
very soon, he began to talk to me of what was passing in his
mind, calling to me at my table to tell me his thoughts. He was
studying the Hebrew characters, having an idea, which I believe
is not a new one, that these characters contain the elements of
all things, though I have reason to suppose he could not make
them out at all to his satisfaction; but whenever anything
occurred to him he must needs make it known to me.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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