224 RETURN TO PARLIS. Tamelan. CHAP. XVII. The Return to Parlis. A Case of Cholera-morbus. An Irish Cure for Cholera. - Pat Conroy's Opinion of the Chinese. Parlis.The Flight from Tamelan. Legacy of Queen Devi. — The Departure. The Heart of a Cocoa-nut Tree. Proceed to shoot a Buffalo. - Discover a Herd. The Shot and the Chase. Obtain Plenty of Buffalo Meat. 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 A CASE OF CHOLERA-MORBUS. 225 from Trang, and gave us the first intimation that that place was already in Siamese possession; but on the way down, cholera and fever had broken out in the prahu, and many had died. Whilst with us, one poor creature was seized with Asiatic cholera. It was a sad sight, to see one in a sound healthy state suddenly seized with a mortal malady. After one or two rapidly successive cramps the very appearance of the man seemed to alter; he became livid and looked collapsed. We had no medicine, and beyond rubbing his cramped muscles, could do nothing, until Barclay's stroke oarsman, a fine specimen of "a boy" from Kinsale, called Paddy Conroy, said it was "a pithy to say a hathen dhoi in such a manner," and volunteered to cure him, if the officers would only give him five minutes' run of their spirits. Pat Conroy, we knew, looked on spirits in a nate state, as he called it—as a sovereign remedy for every trouble flesh is heir to; and it was necessary to keep an eye to his physicking, as in his zeal he might have administered counteractives to himself, whilst doing the good Samaritan to the cholera-stricken Chinaman. We opened our private store of spirits, which was kept in a box containing our stock of cayenne pepper, salt, chilies, pickles, and chutney. "Be dad! sir," said Conroy, as his Milesian nose disappeared 226 AN IRISH CURE FOR CHOLERA. in the smiles which wreathed his honest countenance, "here is the rale physic here; the devil a sowl dies of cholera while there is all this whisky to be had,”— and as he said so, he started a wine-glass of it into a tumbler. “And then there's the beautiful Jamaicy rhum too, by the mother of Moses! what is better than that too for cramps?" so saying, he added some of it. “Ah, now, sir, if you plaise, the smallest taste of gin; oh! it's wonderful what a power there is in that same, if so be there is plenty of it; not that Paddy Conroy would exchange Kinsale harbour full of it for a bucketful of the rale crathur-but what can these hathens know about it? Now for a spoonful of chili vinegar and a pinch of cayenne." So suiting the action to the word, he mixed up a diabolical potion, which would have horrified a horsedoctor. I remonstrated, but Barclay truly enough said, it gave the Chinaman one chance more of surviving, and accordingly a seaman forced the poor creature's mouth open with an iron spoon-handle,- for the teeth were set close together with spasms,—and Dr. Conroy poured his cure for cholera down the man's throat. "You have killed that man! I said. The divil a fear, sir," replied Conroy; "good whisky never killed any man; a rash assertion CONROY'S OPINION OF THE CHINESE. 227 of his faith in his national liquor, which seemed somewhat supported by the rapid improvement which took place in the patient, who had perfectly shaken off his malady before we reached Parlis. Chinaman-like, the wretch seemed incapable of gratitude, and neither he nor his friend said, thank you! to Pat Conroy, who, when I remarked to him. that I thought they might have done so, replied that Nothing good ever came of men who wore tails, the dirty hathens! and it was almost a pithy to have wasted good liquor on such bastes." 66 Conroy was one of those light-hearted, devil-maycare Irishmen, one or two of whom are so invaluable on a man-of-war, just to keep up fun and lightheartedness; more than that is always a source of trouble, for they are seldom good sailors, and often troublesome and drunken. But wherever a good joke would lighten heavy work, or dispel monotony or care, such a diverting vagabond as Paddy Conroy was invaluable; and though Paddy was bad at steering or seamanship, he could handle a musket with all the innate love of soldiering of an Irishman, and where dash or pluck was required, "Paddy Conroy," to use his own expression, "would be all there, your honour!" His love for being "all there" eventually led him into a powder-magazine in China, where 228 PARLIS. - TAMELAN. firing a pistol at a retreating Tartar, he blew up the whole edifice, and himself with it. Paddy escaped with serious injury to his hands and ears, and a general shake of the constitution from which he has not yet recovered. I am, however, going ahead too fast, and must return to Parlis, where we made all our sister gun-boats extremely happy by the information we had to communicate of the fall of Quedah fort. Little change had taken place in the state of affairs in the river since my last visit; but the difficulty of maintaining the blockade was not small, in consequence of the extraordinary distance we had to send for fresh water. In proof of this, I was next day despatched to Tamelan, to fill all the watercasks of the flotilla from the water-holes of that village. The good little Queen Devi was most anxious to assist me, and gave every gallon of water she could spare; but her villagers were themselves somewhat straitened for supplies, there having only been a couple of showers of rain during the last two months; and the parched earth gaped everywhere in wide fissures, and looked as if longing for that rainy season which was not then far distant. Already had parties of her people been obliged to forage up the |