nese came down the river to Leda Tanah (Tongue of Land) about
halfway to Kuching. They built a breast-work by the river-side, dug a
trench behind it, placed some brass guns in position, and then retired
to eat their dinners in comfort behind their defences. There was a
little house and garden belonging to the Rajah at Leda Tanah. The Datu
Tumangong and Abang Boujong hearing of this, went up the river with a
Malay force and attacked the breast-work in front. The Chinese fired one
volley and ran. The Malays entered, sword in hand, but only killed two
men; all the rest fled into the arms of the Dyaks, who lay in wait in
the jungle behind, and took a hundred heads, some say two hundred, but
stories do not lose in the telling. The Chinese begged hard for their
lives, wrung their hands, wept, prayed the Dyaks to be friends with
them; but Dyaks know nothing about prisoners. One of the principal kunsi
was killed in this affair, and some say that Kamang, the leader of the
attack on the 18th of February, lost his head to the Sakarran Dyaks.

This success was matter of great rejoicing at Kuching. Two days
afterwards they heard that Baleda Fort was deserted by the Chinese. Mr.
Johnson went up and found it quite empty; Seniawan too, and soon after
Bau also. All had fled towards the Dutch territory. A dreadful march
they had, poor creatures; carrying their sacred stone Tai pekong with
them. Nearly a thousand women and children delayed their progress. They
were harassed all the way by parties of Malays, and Dyaks cutting off
the stragglers. The party dwindled by degrees, until nearly all the
kunsi were killed, either by the enemy or their incensed countrymen,
who found themselves driven from their peaceful homes for the sins of
these rebels. It is so painful to think of the many innocent who
suffered with the guilty on this occasion, of the miseries they endured,
and the relentlessness of their foes, that I cannot detail it. War
naturally brines such evils in its train; even civilized warfare is not
without its horrors and its injustice: but when revenge falls into the
hands of savages these ills are multiplied. The Malays both hated and
despised the Chinese. That _such_ people should have taken their forts,
burnt their dwellings, compelling them to seek safety for their families
by flight, was so great an insult that their most violent passions were
aroused, and only the blood of all the Kay tribe could wipe out the
disgrace they had