CHAPTER IV.

THE BLOCKADE

RENDERED MORE STRINGENT- THE BOUNTING ISLANDS MY CREW KEEPING HOLIDAY-"HYACINTHS" POISONED WITH GROUND-NUTS-WE DISCOVER WILD-BEES' NESTSARRANGEMENTS MADE FOR ROBBING THE HIVES-THE BEES QUIT THEIR HIVES AND SETTLE ON ME-NO HONEY-A MALAY DOCTOR-THE KORAN AND CHUNAM REMEDY FOR BEE-STINGS.

THE first week or ten days was sadly monotonous: we had to be very guarded in our movements, as the policy intended to be pursued by the enemy had not developed itself, and we were yet ignorant of the force of armed prahus which they might possess up the river; but I was not idle, and, under Jadee's tuition, was fast learning the simple and beautiful language of Malaya. The interest taken by my serang in repeating over for my information the Malay for every article or object upon which he saw my attention fixed for a moment, was a pretty convincing proof of the anxiety he entertained for our being able to understand one another without Jamboo's assistance.

About the middle of December we had reason to believe that small prahus escaped out of the river or entered it at top of high water, by keeping close in to the jungle; and as we had ascertained that there was

deep water inside the bar, it was determined to cross the bar at night, directly the tide rose high enough to allow us to do so, and to remain close off the stockade until the tide again fell, so as to compel us to retreat rather than risk an action with fort and war-prahus combined. This measure gave great umbrage to "Tonkoo Mahomet Said," who sent to warn us that we might get fired into by accident during the night, if we persisted in such a manœuvre. The reply to this threat was a promise of returning the compliment if any such accident did occur; and after a while we found the people of Quedah submitted quietly to this stricter blockade, and it was evident that they were reserving their fighting qualities for the Siamese army, of which we only knew that it was to co-operate with us; how, or when, none could guess. The want of wood and fresh water in our little squadron obliged the senior officer to detach me to a group of islands, about twenty miles distant, in quest of some; and this job I had regularly to execute every tenth day The three islands are known under the names of the Bounting Group; the Malays, with a playful fancy, having, in the outline of one of them, seen a resemblance to a woman in that "state in which ladies wish to be who love their lords." That island is called "Bounting," and, in carrying out the idea, the next is named "Pangail" or "Call!" and the other is "Bedan," the "Accoucheur !"-a strange nomenclature, but the joke of which was evidently a great source of fun to my scamps.

or so.

Having, then, no small boats, our mode of procuring wood and water was primitive enough; the gunboat used to be anchored in a convenient position, and then

WOODING AND WATERING.

41

all hands, myself included, jumped overboard, swam ashore with casks and axes, and spent the day filling the former, cutting wood, bathing, and washing our clothing. It was a general holiday; and, like seamen of our own country, my Malays skylarked, joked, and played about with all the zest of schoolboys; and I observed with no small pleasure, that in their practical jokes or witticisms there was none of that grossness or unbecoming language which European sailors, be their nation what it may, would assuredly have indulged in—a state of things which I imputed to the knowledge they each had of the other's quickness of temper, and the moral certainty of an appeal to the creese should an insult be intentionally given. The Bountings, though clothed with trees and the rankest vegetation of the East, were, like many other islands of the Malayan Archipelago, unproductive of a single wild fruit or vegetable capable of sustaining life. If the wild cocoa-nut tree or plantain had ever grown there, they had been eradicated to prevent pirates procuring refreshment on the islands-a step often pursued by the inhabitants of these buccaneer-haunted shores. Beyond turtles and their eggs on the beaches, and wild honey in the woods, nothing edible was there procurable. Some short time afterwards, however, our gallant corvette happened to be at anchor off the Bountings, and those of the crew left in her asked permission to go on shore for a run. Uninhabited as it was, there appeared to be no reason why they should not go on shore; and the commanding officer cheerfully assented, with a self-congratulatory feeling that, at any rate, as there were there neither ladies nor grog, Jack could not get himself into

trouble. "Oh! yes, by all means; you may all go," was the reply, and the jolly-boat and gig soon landed every man but the sentry and quartermaster; a parting warning was given to the worthies not to be tempted to touch any fruit, as they were poisonous. Having bathed, and washed their clothes over once or twice, by way of a jollification, and walked up and down the beaches until tired, one of the old sailors expressed it as his opinion that "it must be a d-d rum island, if there was nothing eatable to be found on it," and ventured a surmise that the woods must have heaps of nuts in them, if they only knew where to find them. A young mizentopman jumped at the idea, and started away in search of nuts. Finding none on the trees, he next sought for groundnuts, and, as ill-luck would have it, soon found plenty, in the form of something which resembled strongly the common chestnut. Before long all hands had had what they graphically termed "a bowse-out," and soon afterwards became generally ill, being sick and griped to a ridiculous extent. The officers who went to bring off the liberty-men could hardly believe their senses when they found all those who recently landed hearty and well, lying about like so many sick monkeys, and almost as much frightened as hurt by their thoughtlessness. They were taken off, and strong emetics given, which added still more to the general sickness, and all night long there were ejaculations heard of "Those infernal groundnuts!" and the unfortunate boy who had first discovered them was promised more thrashings than it is hoped he ever received.

My Malays, being either more experienced or less

enterprising than their English comrades, contented themselves with the honey and turtle-eggs; and as Jadee reported to me that a man called Alee had discovered a splendid wild-bees' nest on Pulo Bedan, I expressed a strong desire to see the process by which the bees were robbed of their store. We happened to be standing in a wood on a part of that island, and the bees were flying about us, when I expressed this wish in my usual tone of voice. "Hush!" said Jadee, putting his finger to his lips-"hush! speak low, or the bees will hear us !" And then, in a whispering voice, he informed me that the honey would not be fit for capture for some time; and that, at any rate, it was wrong to disturb the bees except at the full of the moon. As he considered it necessary to wait for that auspicious period, I assented, and only took care at the next full moon to be there. Alee and four other Malay seamen were told off to rob the bees' nest, and they as well as myself were soon stripped and swimming ashore. I observed that each man carried with him a small bundle of the husk of cocoa-nut shells, and directly they landed they proceeded to cut branches of a species of palm, and in the leaves enveloped the husks they had brought with them, forming the whole into articles resembling torches: a fire was then kindled upon the beach, fragments of the burning embers introduced into the heart of each torch, and then, by swinging them round so as to cause a draught, the husk ignited, and, aided by the action of the green leaves, poured out of one end of the torch a solid column of smoke. The faithful Jamboo had been left on board; but I understood, from the little these Malays told me,