een very kind to me. Trusting penmanship and paper will
be excused,

'I remain, &c. &c.
'G. H. W. Gill.'

"On the reverse was the following attestation, which threw more light
on the circumstances:--

'I, G. H. Willoughby Gill, late chief officer of the ship
Sultana, of Bombay, do hereby certify that the said ship was
totally destroyed by lightning, thirty miles N. E. of the Bombay
shoal, coast of Palawan, on the 4th of January, 1841. Part of
the crew, forty-one in number, succeeded in reaching Borneo on
the 16th of January, in a state of starvation and misery not to
be described; the remainder are reported to have landed on the
coast of Borneo per long-boat:--Captain John Page; G. H. W. Gill,
chief officer; Alexander Young, second officer; one gunner; five
sea-cunnies; two carpenters; twenty-three natives and Lascars; two
Nakodas. Passengers:--Mrs. Page (of a daughter, 31st of March);
Mr. and Miss de Souza; Mrs. Anderson, servant; one Ayah; in all
forty-two souls. The sultan has permitted myself, Mr. and Miss de
Souza, with three servants, to proceed to Singapore in one of his
prahus, where I hope to succeed in procuring the release of the
remainder of my companions from their present very uncomfortable
situation. I dare not say more. Mr. de Souza and myself left on
the 24th of May, and put in here dismasted on the 20th of June;
since then have been detained by a fleet of piratical prahus,
which arrived on the 24th, and left 9th of July. Should nothing
prevent, we expect to be ready by the 15th; but am very doubtful
of ever getting to Singapore, as I fear they are on the look-out
for us outside.'

"This is the contents of the paper, which arriving after I had
retired to rest, effectually banished sleep from my pillow. The
'uncomfortable situation,' coupled with 'I dare say no more,' gives
the worst suspicions of their treatment in Borneo; while the chance
of the party at Sirhassan falling into the hands of the pirates is
extremely shocking. I instantly, on the receipt of the letter, sent
to the rajah to request that he would dispatch a boat for Sirhassan,
with a person competent to treat with the pirates; and on the morning
of the 3d I succeeded in dispatching a boat to Songi, in the Sadong,
to get some of the Datu Pangeran's people, who are Illanuns; but up to
this time they have not returned. I ca