same name. On an old Portuguese fort which commands the town and entrance to the river the Malayan colours were flying, and Tonkoo Mahomet Said was found to be in command. Captain Warren had a conference with that chief and Prince Abdullah, in which they were duly warned to abstain from a course which must bring down upon them the wrath of the all-potent Company, and pardon was promised in the event of their doing so immediately. The chief made out a very good case, as seen from a Malay point of view, and nothing but a sense of duty could prevent one sympathising in the efforts made by these gallant sea-rovers to regain their own. "Tell the Company," said Prince Abdullah, with that theatrical air and gesture so natural to the well-born Asiatic, "that we shall brave all consequences: we have reconquered Quedah, which was, and is, ours by a right which no law can abrogate; and so long as we can wield a sword or hold a spear, we will maintain the heritage descended from our forefathers!" No prahus were in sight at this place; and it was not until after a long and arduous search amongst dangerous and intricate channels, at a tempestuous season of the year, that we discovered the Malay fleet, they being then at a place called Trang, on the northern boundary of the province of Quedah. Here, as at the capital, the ship could not approach the coast, and Captain Warren had to throw himself amongst the Malays, in an open boat, with some eight or ten English seamen. Passing a shallow entrance to a river, which was carefully stockaded and flanked with gingal*

* A gingal is a long and heavy wall-piece, much used by Asiatics, and very formidable in their hands.

batteries, Captain Warren, after a short pull, found himself amongst a formidable fleet of fifty prahus, carrying guns and swivels or culverins, and with crews varying from twenty to fifty men.

A guard of 100 armed men marched down to receive the Rajah Lant, or sea-king, of the British Queen, and with great ceremony and state conducted him to their admiral or leader, a noted old pirate named Datoo Mahomet Alee, Datoo being his title as chieftain or lord.

Had treachery been so common as it is generally supposed to be amongst the much-vilified Malays, assuredly it would have been an easy task to put to death the British captain and his boat's crew, for they were fairly in the lion's den, and the bearers of a hostile message, apart from Mahomet Alee knowing full well that a price had been fixed for his capture as a felon by the Company. Yet, on the contrary, they behaved with the utmost generosity and civility, listened respectfully to the warning given of future punishment, and even here, as at Quedah, allowed a proclamation to be posted up, calling on all these pirates to disperse.

The conference over, Captain Warren learnt that the Malay attack had been successful on every point, and, apart from organising the means of preserving their hold of the province, they intended in the coming monsoon to assail the Siamese in such strength as to prevent their detaching a force to reconquer Quedah. To a wish expressed by Captain Warren that they would come out and have a fair fight in open water, Mahomet Alee replied, that although he had never fought a British man

PREPARATIONS FOR THE CAMPAIGN.

23

of-war, he was one who could boast of having beaten off a man-of-war's boats; and nothing would give him greater pleasure than trying to do so again, if Captain Warren would come to fight him in the spot he then was. With such mutual expressions of chivalrous desire to meet again, the Hyacinth returned to report proceedings to the Governor of the Straits of Malacca.

During the month of November we went to Singapore to arrange a plan of operations in conjunction with the Siamese, emissaries from his golden-tufted majesty having been sent there for that purpose. Singapore was chosen as the place of outfit for the flotilla, because the Malays were less likely to glean information of our plans there than they would undoubtedly have been from their agents and sympathisers at Penang.

It was arranged that directly the north-east monsoon, or fine-weather season, commenced, the British Government were to closely blockade the coast of Quedah, whilst a Siamese army of thirty thousand men marched down to reconquer the province; and we were to treat as pirates all armed prahus fallen in with.

The Hyacinth, besides her own boats, had lent to her for this service three lugger-rigged and decked gunboats, named respectively the Diamond, Pearl, and Emerald, or Nos. 1, 2, and 3. They were all manned by Malays, and the Diamond was commanded by a halfcaste native gentleman in the Company's service. A small steamer, the only one that at that time had been seen in those waters, was available in case of necessity; and the very terror inspired by the Diana-or "fireship," as the Malays called her-was a host in itself.

When all was ready, we suddenly left Singapore ; and giving Penang as a rendezvous, the corvette and gunboats made the best of their way there, completed water and provisions, and gleaned all necessary information, prior to starting for Quedah; off which place the Hyacinth anchored on December 7th, with the gunboats around her.

Great was the delight and excitement through the ship when the fact of the boats being about to leave for months, manned and armed, came to our knowledge. The pinnace and cutter were got out and provisioned. All our lieutenants having either gone home on promotion or died, the command of the boats generally fell to a mate, Mr George Drake, in the pinnace; the senior midshipman, Mr Barclay, had the cutter; whilst the two gunboats fell respectively to Mr Peter Halkett and myself.

Not a little proud of my command, at an early hour on the 8th I found myself on board the Hon. Company's gunboat Emerald. She was a fine wholesome boat, about forty-eight feet long, carrying two large luggersails, and with a crew of twenty-five stout Malays, besides a serang,* or boatswain. Completely decked over, she carried in her bow an 18-pounder carronade on a traversing carriage, and a brass 6-pounder gun on a pivot upon the quarterdeck; and had, moreover, an ample store of all arms on board.

My swarthy crew received their new commander in the height of Malay tenue. The gayest pocket-handkerchiefs tied round their heads, and their bodies wrapped Serang is a native term for boatswain.

*

MY COMMAND AND HER CREW.

25

in the tasteful cotton plaid of the country, called a sarong, and their bare legs and sinewy arms, with the warlike creese, gave them the air of as many gamecocks. Not a soul of them could speak a word of English; and until I could master enough Malay to be understood, my sole means of communication lay through an individual who introduced himself to me as "Jamboo, sir !-interpreter, sir!" "And a very dirty one too," I mentally added.

The pantomime over of passing a small valise containing my kit into a little cabin, which I saw abaft the mainmast, I desired Jamboo to direct the serang to get under way and follow the pinnace, for she was already pulling in for Quedah fort; whilst the Hyacinth, spreading her wings, was running northward for another river called the Parlis. The crew in a trice ran the anchor to the bows, and got out the sweeps,* as there was no wind, and pulled so heartily as to show me that we had, at any rate, the legs of all our consorts. Checking the zeal of my serang, who, standing amongst the rowers, was exciting them by word and gesture to outstrip the senior officer, I dropped astern into my place, and proceeded to make myself acquainted with my strange shipmates and vessel.

The interpreter Jamboo's history was a short one. He was one of that numerous class who do not know their own fathers. His mother, who was a Burmese woman of Moulmein, averred that a British officer was

*

Sweep is a nautical term applied to large oars used in heavy vessels; for instance, those used in barges are "sweeps," properly speaking.