wood, triple deep, and surrounded by two inclosures,
thickly studded on the outside with ranjows. The effect of our fire had
shaken it completely, now much to our discomfort; for the walls were
tottering, and the roof as leaky as a sieve. On the 20th of December,
then, the war closed. The very next day, contrary to stipulation,
the Malay Pangerans tried to ascend the river, and when stopped began
to expostulate. After preventing many, the attempt was made by Subtu
and Pangeran Hassim, in three large boats, boldly pulling toward
us. Three hails did not check them, and they came on in spite of a
blank cartridge and a wide ball, to turn them back. But I was resolved;
and when a dozen musket-balls whistled over and fell close around them,
they took to an ignominious flight. I subsequently upbraided them
for this breach of promise, and Macota loudly declared they had _been
greatly to blame_; but I discovered that he himself had set them on.

"I may now briefly conclude this detail. I ordered the rebels to
burn all their stockades, which they did at once, and delivered up
the greater part of their arms; and I proceeded to the rajah to
request from him their lives. Those who know the Malay character
will appreciate the difficulty of the attempt to stand between the
monarch and his victims; I only succeeded when, at the end of a long
debate--I soliciting, he denying--I rose to bid him farewell, as it
was my intention to sail directly, since, after all my exertions
in his cause, if he would not grant me the lives of the people,
I could only consider that his friendship for me was at an end. On
this he yielded. I must own that during the discussion he had much
the best of it; for he urged that they had forfeited their lives by
the law, as a necessary sacrifice to the future peace of the country;
and argued that in a similar case in my own native land no leniency
would be shown. On the contrary, my reasoning, though personal,
was, on the whole, the best for the rajah and the people. I stated
my extreme reluctance to have the blood of conquered foes shed; the
shame I should experience in being a party, however involuntarily,
to their execution; and the general advantage of a merciful line
of policy. At the same time I told him their lives were forfeited,
their crimes had been of a heinous and unpardonable nature, and it
was only from so humane a man as himself, one with so kind a heart,
that I could ask for their pardon; but I add