THE PRISONERS IN QUEDAH Fort. 195

CHAP. XV.

The Massacre of the Prisoners in Quedah Fort. — The alarmed Barber. - Inchi Laa repudiates the Act. The Vultures' Feast. Captain Warren visits the Siamese Camp. - The Siamese Army. Renewed Vigour in the Operations. The Capture of the Battery. — The Flight of the Harem. Fugitives no longer able to escape by Sea. - Narrow Escape of my Crew. Inchi Laa surrenders. - Struck by a Whirlwind. The last Broadside. — The Chiefs escape. — Quedah Fort abandoned.

THE Siamese prisoners in the hands of the Malay chieftains had, after the completion of the defences of Quedah fort, been employed digging a reservoir, called, in India, a tank, for the purpose of collecting rain. Every day these wretches were marched out to their tasks and brought back again; but on the day after the visit of the Inchi, we observed that a more than usual number of Malays accompanied them, and that several chiefs of importance were among the escort.

The spot was too distant for us to see all that took place, but our attention was attracted by piteous cries and loud shouts, and the rush and confusion of an

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THE ALARMED BARBER,

evident mêlée: the Malays in the garrison crowded upon the parapet, and appeared very excited in voice and gesture. Suddenly, a Chinaman from the town was seen running towards our anchorage, followed, directly his object was observed, by a couple of Malays; several shots were fired at the fugitive, but when under cover of our vessels, we discharged a musket over his head, to show we claimed him, and his pursuers resigned him to our custody. I never, before or since, saw a man so horror-stricken as this poor Chinese barber was-for he had all the instruments of his trade about him, and had, apparently, dropped his razor and fled, stricken by some sudden fear. With much ado the man was soothed into telling us, crying all the while with nervous excitement, that the noise which was just subsiding on shore, had been the death-shrieks of all the ill-fated Siamese prisoners; that Tonkoo Mahomet Typeetam had been burning for revenge ever since his late discomfiture at Allegagou, and the Malays generally were frantic at the horrors perpetrated on their countrymen: in retaliation, therefore, they had that morning marched out three hundred Siamese (all they had in their hands) to the margin of the tank, and there drawing his creese, Type-etam had given the signal to fall on, by plunging it into the

MASSACRE OF THE PRISONERS.

197

body of a prisoner; and the bodies were thrown into the tank, which lay in the road over which the Siamese troops must advance to the capture of Quedah. The Chinaman happened to be a witness of the massacre, and not knowing whether Type-etam might not take it into his head to clear off the Chinese likewise, he, like a prudent barber, decamped at

once.

The murderers marched back soon afterwards, and lying, as we now did, close to the stockade, we did not think, from their appearance, they looked very elated with their bloody achievement; still one or two ruffians were very excited, and waved their spears and muskets, as if promising us a similar fate should we fall into their hands. I need hardly say we were most indignant at such a cold-blooded act of cruelty, and it would have been an evil hour for Type-etam, had he fallen into the hands of our people even Jadee declared it unmanly, and, as usual, took great care to explain to me, that the gentlemanly dogs by whom he had been brought up would have acted very differently.

I upbraided Inchi Laa, the next time he visited us, for such an inhuman return to our captain's generous treatment of their defenceless women and children, and reminded him that, as pirates, there

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THE VULTURES' FEAST.

was an English law which entitled us to twenty pounds a head for every one of his countrymen we sent out of the world.* The Inchi, I was glad to see, blushed, and vowed that Mahomet Said protested against the act, whilst Type-etam tried to justify it, on the ground of the dearth of provisions and water, the cruelty of the Siamese, and the bad policy of liberating such a body of enemies.

The keen sight of the vulture, or possibly its power of scent, was wonderfully exemplified on the day of the massacre; for although none of us had ever seen a vulture here before, within a few hours after it had taken place a number of those repulsive creatures were wheeling round and round over the bodies, and soon settled down to their filthy repast; only to rise for a short and lazy flight, when startled by some exchange of shots between the besiegers and besieged.

Habit reconciles many a disgusting sight to our ideas of what is natural; but I know nothing that, to a European as yet unhardened to it, seems so repulsive as that of a large bird feeding upon the corpse of a human being. Yet this soon became a common sight, for many a body floated down the stream, and, directly it grounded on the mud-flats, vultures would

*The head-money for pirates has been most wisely done away with very lately, after having been sadly abused,

VISIT TO THE SIAMESE CAMP.

199

be seen flapping their wings over their loathsome food.

A week passed away: the Malays still spoke confidently of being able to hold out in the fort until the bad weather should force the Siamese to retreat, and ourselves to abandon the blockade; and, moreover, they allowed it to leak out, that Datoo Mahomet Alee, from Parlis, was operating against the flank of the Siamese army, and prevented them making an assault upon Quedah.

On March 16th, a Siamese flag was seen waving on a tree at the mouth of the Jurlong river, north of Quedah river; and with a view to hastening the Siamese operations, Captain Warren decided upon visiting their head-quarters, and a message was soon sent to the Siamese general, informing him of his wish to do so,

Next day, elephants and a guard of honour were in waiting at the Jurlong. Captain Warren ascended it as far as possible, and then, accompanied by his gig's crew and an interpreter, mounted the elephants, and proceeded to Allegagou, where the general still was, although a division of his army was closely blockading Quedah fort by land. Captain Warren was received with the greatest honour, and had a house placed at his disposal, as well