THE CHIEF'S ESCAPE.

209

Tonkoo Mahomet Said, Prince Abdullah, and Typeetam, with a select body of men, marched along the low-water mark of the sea, as far as the mouth of the Jurlong river, unseen by us or the Siamese ; there they were met by Datoo Mahomet Alee and Haggi Loung, who had marched from Parlis with some elephants to meet them; and the united chiefs had thus escaped, to renew their resistance in another quarter.

In order that the Siamese might still be detained off Quedah, a petty chieftain, whose name did not transpire, promised, with two hundred chosen men, to hold out for forty-eight hours: this he faithfully performed; and he directed the desperate sally in which Inchi Laa had been cut off from re-entering the fort.

Shortly afterwards, that chief, afraid to surrender to us after the treacherous attempt of one Jaffa to sink the gun-boat (an act all had disapproved of), swam across to the south side with the remaining men of his party, leaving fifteen Rajpoots, who were in the fort, to cover his escape by holding out, as they promised, for the space of two hours.

They it was who had fired the last broadsides, and then endeavoured to make good their retreat as the others had done; but not being as amphibious

P

210

QUEDAH FORT ABANDONED.

as the Malays, they had been swept down by the tide upon the stockade, and the majority were drowned, or killed by alligators.

We respected these brave fellows; and although there was some suspicion of their being deserters from the Company's army, we gave them the benefit of the doubt; and, having made them swear to escort the women with all speed to Province Wellesley, we put them all under charge of Inchi Laa, and hastened their departure before the Siamese entered Quedah fort and observed their movements.

Barclay and I crawled through the mud, aroused all the fair ladies from their al fresco slumbers, told Inchi Laa he must be off-a piece of advice which needed no repetition,-- and in a few minutes we were left alone, the stars and a young moon shining on the grey walls of the deserted stronghold.

SIAMESE IN POSSESSION OF THE FORT. 211

CHAP. XVI.

The Siamese in Possession of the Fort. - Description of the Fort. - A Siamese Military Swell. - The Divan. A Naval Ambassador. - The Ambassador demands Beef. Curiosity of the Siamese Officials. -The Appearance of the Soldiery. Mobility of the Siamese Troops. - Arms and Equipments. The Buffalo of Malayia. Mr. Airey, Master of the "Hyacinth." - Siamese Ingratitude not singular. We proceed to Parlis.

AT daybreak on March 20th, we observed the Siamese to be in possession of the fort, and shortly afterwards our Captain visited, and congratulated the authorities, who, however, did not appear to understand the immense moral aid we had afforded to his Golden-tufted Majesty of Siam, as well as the fatal hindrance we had been to fresh supplies being thrown into the unfortunate province.

In the course of the day, I visited Quedah, accompanied by Jadee, Jamboo, and a guard of honour of four of my own Malays, who my worthy coxswain insisted should be armed to the teeth, lest a fray should arise

212

DESCRIPTION OF THE FORT.

with any of the Siamese irregulars. The gun-boat passed through the stockade, and from her I landed at the river end of a moat, which we found flanked the fort on its landward side. Neglect and ruin were everywhere apparent; the moat was half filled with rubbish, and evidently was left dry at low water: across it, opposite the only gateway not built up with stones, a temporary bridge had been thrown by the Siamese; this gateway faced the one long row of mat-built houses which constituted the once important town of Quedah; and as we passed through it, we could not help stopping to admire two magnificent brass guns, of Portuguese manufacture, which pointed down the road. The arms of the House of Braganza were still comparatively fresh upon the metal: but how have they, the descendants of Alfonso Albuquerque, degenerated !

The fort itself was of a rectangular form, and partook more of the character of a factory such as the Portuguese and Dutch, as well as ourselves, used to construct in the early days of Eastern discovery, than that of a place intended purely as a fortification. On the parapet, there were many handsome and heavy guns, mounted on very barbaric carriages; and within the walls, besides an old mosque or temple, and one or two stone-built houses, there was no lack

DESCRIPTION OF THE FORT.

213

of mat residences of the usual Malay order of archi

tecture.

It was a sad and ruinous scene: the robber and robbed had each been there in their turn; their handiwork lay before me, and standing upon the battlements looking over the rich land and luxuriant forest, on the one side, and the fine river with the blue Indian Ocean upon the other, I could not help feeling that man had sadly abused God's bounty. Yet Quedah had not always been what it then

was.

*

66

When the first European visitor wrote of it, in 1516, he had occasion to say, that it was a seaport to which an infinite number of ships resorted, trading in all kinds of merchandise; here come," he adds, " many Moorish ships from all quarters; here, too, grows much pepper, very good and fine, which is conveyed to Malacca, and thence to China." And the province adjacent is still noted for the immense productiveness of its rice-fields, and the mountains. are still rich in gold and tin. I was not left long to cogitate upon what Quedah had been, and what it could now be, if in better hands; for the Siamese soldiery were still ransacking every hole and corner for plunder, and failing in discovering much, some of them, who looked a little excited with " fighting water," or

* Moor was the term applied to the Mahometan traders.