EVENTS AND PROCEEDINGS. 9 1 
nation in safety and health, being well received by the 
king, who ordered a salute of fifty guns. The rear 
party accomplished their journey with equal success 
and were as cordially welcomed. 
But, not many days had elapsed after their settle- 
ment at San Salvador, when a most terrible trial over- 
took the missionary band in general, and Mr. Comber 
in particular. It was nothing less than the death of 
Mrs. Comber, which most sorrowful event happened 
on the morning of Sunday, the 24th of August. The 
sad circumstance is most pathetically described in 
the following extracts from a letter John Hartland 
wrote to his mother : — 
“ I am sure you will be as sorry , to get this letter as 
I am to write it It contains bad news. I may as well 
tell it at once, though it will come very suddenly to 
you. 
‘‘ Our dear brother Comber has lost his young wife ! 
Poor Mrs. Comber has passed away! It will seem 
very sudden to you, no doubt ; it was sudden to us too. 
She died of meningitis, an inflammation of the mem- 
brane of the brain, brought on by bad news from 
home. She was just recovering from a rather severe 
attack of fever, had not been able to get up, but 
expected shortly to do so. When the letters, our long 
and anxiously looked for letters arrived, Mr. Comber 
gave her those directed to her, and on coming into the 
room a few minutes later, found her sitting up in bed 
crying. 
‘‘ While we had been enjoying our good news from 
home, she had been reading of the serious, almost 
hopeless illness of her sister Lottie. The bad news 
seemed to take hold of her ; the next day she was 
much worse, and vomited all she took. Many bad 
symptoms appeared, and at first it was thought she 
had typhoid fever ; but soon coma set in, and for 
several days she lay quite unconscious, and only took 
nourishment from a spoon with which Tom fed her. 
They knew it could not be typhus, and Harry (Mr. 
