220 THE BUFFALO OF MALAYIA. hair. Naturally jet black, and somewhat harsh in texture, the hair was cut to an equal length all over the head, leaving it about three and a half inches long, the object being to make each particular hair to stand on end, "like quills upon the fretful porcupine," and to ensure this, a fillet, of an inch and a half wide, of rattan, or some stiff substance, carefully covered with white linen, encircled the head, passing across the forehead close to the roots of the hair, and served to force it all into an erect position. It decidedly gave them a singularly fearless air, but, whether a national custom, or merely adopted by the Siamese general to make a marked distinction between his followers and the long-haired Malays, I am unable to say. I passed Jadee and his crew of twenty men, engaged in getting the two bullocks on board the "Emerald," and they had had a pretty tough hour's work in doing so for the animals, like most of the native cattle in Malayia, were only-half tamed buffalos—a set of savage long-horned brutes that will not turn from the tiger so common in those jungles. Indeed in many of the native states, the favourite sport of the chiefs is to capture a tiger alive, and turn him loose into an enclosed arena with a buffalo-bull, and in nine cases out of ten the latter will, in spite 66 MR. AIREY, OF THE HYACINTH.” 221 of the fearful wounds it receives, kill the tiger with a blow or two of its horns, and then toss it about as an English bull would a dog. We had some difficulty in lashing down our freight of fresh beef, and taking it safely off to the "Hyacinth ;" and the commanding officer, the kind and gallant Airey, laughed immoderately when I told him of my mode of carrying out his injunction, “not to return without the bullocks." “A midshipman's impertinence must," as he observed, "have astonished the Rajah of Ligor!" for he it was, and no one less, that I had thus played the ambassador with! Airey was the master of the "Hyacinth;" but owing to the death of the second lieutenant, and the promotion of the first lieutenant*, he was now doing commanding officer's duty. He was a charming specimen of a generous, gallant sailor. Poor fellow ! he now lies in a humble grave on the pestilential shores of Labuan, having fallen a victim to fever and dysentery, so rife at the commencement of our settlement on that island. Heaven rest his soul! a better, kinder man, or more zealous officer, never * The late Captain Giffard, who was mortally wounded, and his vessel, H.M.S. “Tiger," captured by the Russians off Odessa, in the commencement of the late war. 222 SIAMESE INGRATITUDE. adorned our profession, although it never was his luck, in piping days of peace, to have sufficient opportunity for a display of his abilities, and the canker of disappointment and a worn-out constitution laid him under the turf. Arrangements were now made to proceed northward, so as to promote the rapid reduction of the rest of the province, a great portion of which was still in the hands of the Tonkoos and their adherents. The Siamese, as I have said, did not appear to understand the value of our passive form of co-operation, though it was undoubtedly very efficacious; and Jamboo assured me he had, whilst in Quedah fort, heard many insulting inuendoes cast upon the British mode of blockading. "Oh! you have been eating white rice while we have starved upon black," was one of their expressions equivalent "to lying in clover" whilst they worked hard. Others wanted to know, "Why we allowed a set of Malay vermin to escape, that they might return, to harass the Siamese at a future day?" In short, had Captain Warren expected much gratitude for all his hard work and anxious days and nights, he would have been bitterly disappointed, and we may say that our unhandsome treatment by the Siamese was only of a piece with the conduct of some other countries which we could mention in more WE PROCEED TO PARLIS. 223 civilised parts of the world, where policy, or generosity, or Quixotism has caused Old England to lavish her treasure and her still more precious blood. It was with no small satisfaction that we saw the "Hyacinth" weigh on the 22nd of March, and proceed towards Parlis, leaving the Siamese and the "Teda Bagoose" to fulfil their mission, whatever that might be. By the bye, the fighting captain of the "Teda Bagoose " had vowed to report me officially for giving such a name to his Imperial Majesty's brig, and that added to my desire to see her a long way astern. 224 RETURN TO PARLIS. CHAP. XVII. A Case of Cholera-morbus. An Irish Pat Conroy's Opinion of the Chinese. Parlis.The Flight from Tamelan. Return to Parlis. THE cutter and gun-boat proceeded along the shore, whilst the "Hyacinth" made a straight course; and the lack of wind in both cases caused the passage to Parlis to be longer than usual. Unable to continue at the oars and sweeps during the heat of the day, we anchored off Bamboo Point, whilst the "Hyacinth," in the distance, flapped lazily along with light airs and cats'-paws which never reached us. Towards sunset we weighed, and had not gone far before a small prahu was detected endeavouring to hide herself in the jungle: we of course made her come alongside; and a wretched sight she was! The crew on board consisted for the most part of Chinese settlers who were flying the province: they came |