was detached from the main body, and ordered to surround it. The first
fort was found difficult of access, in consequence of a deep hedge of
thorn-bushes and brambles with which it was environed. The assault was
commenced by the pioneers, with their crows and axes, breaking down the
gates and forcing a passage. This was attended with some difficulty, and
gave the enemy time for preparation. They raised their warwhoop, and
resisted most manfully, fighting with spears, sabres, and muskets. They
had also a few brass pieces in the fort, but they managed them with so
little skill as to produce no effect, for the balls uniformly whizzed
over the heads of our men. The resistance of the Malays was in vain, the
fort was stormed, and soon carried; not, however, till almost every
individual in it was slain. Po Mahomet, a chief of much distinction, and
who was one of the principal persons concerned in the outrage on the
Friendship was here slain; the mother of Chadoolah, another rajah, was
also slain here; another woman fell at this port, but her rank was not
ascertained; she fought with the spirit of a desperado. A seaman had
just scaled one of the ramparts, when he was severely wounded by a blow
received from a weapon in her hands, but her life paid the forfeit of
her daring, for she was immediately transfixed by a bayonet in the hands
of the person whom she had so severely injured. His head was wounded by
a javelin, his thumb nearly cut off by a sabre, and a ball was shot
through his hat.

Lieutenants Edson and Ferret proceeded to the rear of the town, and made
a bold attack upon that fort, which, after a spirited resistance on the
part of the Malays, surrendered. Both officers and marines here narrowly
escaped with their lives. One of the natives in the fort had trained his
piece in such a manner as to rake their whole body, when he was shot
down by a marine while in the very act of applying a match to it. The
cannon was afterwards found to have been filled with bullets. This fort,