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too commonly more welcome in their harbours than a fair trader. From such countenance the pirates are so numerous, that whole beaches are lined with proas, and none but well-armed vessels dare thread the islets. Among the most desperate and successful of the cruisers is the widely-dreaded Rajah Raga, known as the Prince of Pirates, who, for more than twenty years "carried all before him." His expeditions have invariably been stamped with singular cunning and intelligence, barbarity and recklessness. During his noviciate under an experienced chief, he was frequently exposed to imminent danger by the vigilance of our cruisers once, when many of his companions were destroyed by a furious shower of grape from his Majesty's sloop Rattlesnake; and again, in January, 1808, when two of three vessels then belonging to his leader were taken and burnt by the Drake, frigate, near the Arroas, in the Straits of Malacca. We accidentally fell in with them at this moment, and we well remember seeing the third proa creeping off under the land, but little suspected the destinies she bore, till we heard of Raga's bragging afterwards of this escape. He then became a chief himself, and continued, to the latest news from those quarters, the Scourge of the sea. He has emissaries everywhere, and the intelligence which he acquires is of the greatest authenticity. If the object is of moment, he undertakes the execution himself; if otherwise, he detaches a trusty officer.

In 1813, he cut off three English vessels, and killed their captains with his own hand, an achievement of which he delights to boast; as well as that he has personally slain twenty-five out of upwards of forty commanders of European vessels which fell into his clutches. These exploits, together with the seas of blood wantonly shed by his myrmidons, were a set off among the treacherous Malays against his aggressions on the native trade, and few even of those who had themselves lost proas will speak against Raga, whose successes against the Europeans are the admiration of all the young men, and the theme of much of the modern poetry of their beautiful language. The following anecdote of this desperado was given by Mr. Dalton, who resided some time in the Eastern Archipelago, and visited Pergottaha, the present grand focus of piracy:

"Two British sloops of war scoured the coast. One of which, I believe the Elk, Captain Reynolds, was attacked during the night by Ragah's prow, who unfortunately was not on board at the time. This particular prow, which Ragah personally commanded, and the loss of which he frequently laments, carried eight guns, and was full of his best men. He had himself landed at Pergottaha a few days previously, and sent off the prow with a favourable panglima (or commander), to pick up any small things which might be seen off Point Salatan. An European vessel was faintly descried about three o'clock one foggy morning; the rain fell in torrents,— the time, the weather, were favourable circumstances for a surprise, and the panglima, determined to distinguish himself in the absence of Raya Raga, gave directions to close, fire the guns, and board. He was the more confident of success, as the European vessel was observed to keep away out of her course on approaching her. On getting within about a hundred fathoms of the Pariah vessel, as they supposed her to be, they fired their broadside (four guns), gave a loud shout, and with their long oars pulled towards their prey. The sound of a drum beating to quarters no sooner struck the ear of the astonished panglima, than he endeavoured to get away; it was too late,—the ports were opened, and a broadside, accompanied

by three British cheers, gave sure indications of their fate. The panglima hailed the English Captain, and would fain persuade him that it was a mistake. It was indeed a mistake, and one not to be rectified by any Malayan explanation. The prow was sunk by repeated broadsides, and the commanding officer refusing to pick up any of the people, they were drowned, with the exception of five, who, after floating four days on some spars, were picked up by a Pergottahan prow, and told the story to Raga, who swore anew destruction to every European he should henceforward take. The writer of this conversed with one of the officers of the sloop of war, and it appears that the prow was early pointed out to the Lieutenant on deck, who, seeing her a-head, and being fearful of running her down, did alter her course a point each time. Two or three of the ship's company were wounded. It would be well if all other vessels followed the example set by the Captain of this sloop, in attempting to destroy the whole, instead of taking prisoners, who, in all probability, will make an amok on board, or, if set at liberty, will certainly return to their former course of life."

When the Alceste frigate was unfortunately bilged in the straits of Gaspar, on the 18th of February, 1817, the crew escaped to the barren isle of Leat, leaving a Lieutenant and party in the ship to preserve necessaries. But in two or three days the pirate proas hove in sight, when the persons on board were compelled to seek safety on Pulo Leat, leaving the wreck to the brutal ruffians, who plundered, and then burnt it to the water's edge. Soon afterwards they invested the island itself, with a force of sixty proas; and as their purposes were very evident, the officers and seamen prepared for a vigorous resistance. The example of Captain Maxwell, in fortifying their position, and participating in every privation, was beyond all praise, and endeared him to his people, so that no fears were entertained as to the result of an attack. This state of suspense lasted for sixteen days, absolute want staring them in the face on one hand, and destruction from the savages on the other; when, on the 3rd of March, the officer on the "look-out tree" announced that he perceived the sail of a ship or brig, at all events larger than those of the Malays. The pirates soon after made the same discovery; and the rapidity of their movements in consequence was such, that they were enabled to retreat without damage. The vessel proved to be the Ternate, a Company's cruizer of 16 guns.

Among the various skirmishes that take place between our cruisers and the pirates, we may mention a very recent one. On the afternoon of the 20th of April, 1834, the Harrier, a sloop-of-war, commanded by Captain Vassall, the son of the regretted hero of Monte Video, anchored at the Arroas, a cluster of islands near the centre of the Straits of Malacca. In the evening two officers, the Second-Lieutenant and Master, proceeded with a small boat and four men to the greater Arroa, at a short distance from the ship, to procure turtle. At about eleven o'clock the boat returned, with one seaman mortally shot, and another wounded in the head. The Master, who saved himself by swimming, reported, that while turning a turtle, they were attacked by a large band of Malays, who had crossed from the larger island, and had much difficulty in effecting their retreat to the ship. The Harrier's boats were immediately dispatched, to prevent the escape of the piratic proas, and to capture or destroy them in the morning. When daylight appeared, a fire of jingles from the rocks, and musketry from the jungle, was opened on our boats, which was promptly returned. After some time, and with great difficulty, the seamen and marines made good their landing, and advanced upon the pirates, who stood to receive them, con

testing with much obstinacy the post they had taken. At length the chief being shot by one of the marines, as well as others about the same time, they gave way, and fled into the jungle. Three large proas and two boats were destroyed, and a great quantity of arms captured *.

The piratical vessels are usually called prows, though the orthography is varied from praw, paro, paraw, and prahu, to the proa, which is most generally adopted. The Soloo proas are only from six to ten or twelve tons burthen, mounting two small guns, with swivels, or rantakas, and a crew of thirty or forty men. The Illanoon proas are much larger, and more formidable, and commonly carry from four to six guns, and a proportional number of swivels, with crews of from forty to one hundred men each, who are well provided with spears, krisses, and as many firearms as they can procure. The proa of the Celebes, which is sometimes called paduakan, is still larger than that of the Illanoons, though it rarely exceeds fifty tons. It is built by dowling the planks together, as coopers do the parts that form the heads of a cask, and soft bark is put between, which swells, and keeps them water-tight. The timbers are then filled to the planks: some have a double bulwark covered with buffalo hide; but they are such absolute bigots to old models and fixtures, that few improvements occur. Thus the bow is lowered, or cut down in a very awkward manner, so as to be often under water, whence a bulkhead is raised a good way abaft the stern, to keep off the sea. The vessels of the Moluccas are the korocorras and orembis, or those of the larger and smaller sizes. The korocorra has a high-arched stem and stern, like the points of a half-moon; they are fitted with outriggers, and are from a small size to about a dozen tons burthen. They are capable of very swift motion, from the number of hands they can employ, and are steered by a couple of kamudis, or broad paddles, in place of a rudder.

The mode of attack with all these pirates is cautious, and, in spite of their desperation, cowardly, for plunder and not reputation is their aim. They lie concealed under the land and in creeks, until they find a fit object and opportunity, such as a vessel aground, or becalmed in the interval between the land and sea breezes. Several of the marauders attack together, and station themselves on the bows and quarters of a ship when she has no longer steerage way, and is incapable of pointing her guns to advantage. The action after continues for hours, doing very little mischief; but when the crew are exhausted with the defence, or have expended their ammunition, the assailants seize this opportunity of boarding in a mass. Such being the general practice, the hazard which square-rigged merchant vessels run among those innumerable channels is obvious; but it is equally clear that armed steam-boats offer an effectual means of prosecuting offensive operations against them; and it is matter of surprise, that the tranquil navigation and abundant fuel of those regions, should not have suggested the idea of thus depriving the sea-banditti of taking advantage of calms and shoal water, and rendering their haunts precarious and insecure.

*We understand that the arms taken on this occasion are presented to that useful and rising institution, the United Service Museum, together with some curious Malay documents which Captain Vassall obtained in his cruises against the rovers. This gallant young officer destroyed the great pirate settlement of Sogee, in 1833, by which he rendered an essential service to the commercial interests in those seas.

LEAVES FROM MY LOG-BOOK.-MY SECOND TRIP.

BY FLEXIBLE GRUMMETT, P.M.

"And back I flew to its billowy breast."-The Sea.

No. II.

My last paper left the good ship Lady Graves anchored for the night in Margate-roads, and during the middle watch (which fell to my lot under Mr. Allen, the second officer) a large lug-sail boat ran alongside and one of her crew came aboard. He possessed a remarkably stout, well-made, commanding figure, habited in the usual dress of the Deal boatmen, and the whisperings among the people, "a smuggler, a smuggler," did not fail to excite considerable interest in my mind, especially as the tales narrated of their lawless daring were very prevalent at the time.

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The old race of smugglers, however, has passed away, and they have now become mere commonplace characters, divested of that charm which once threw a cloud of mystery round the adventurous dealer in contraband. Indeed, it must be confessed there was something extremely romantic and spirit-stirring-I mean no pun-in the life of the hardy smuggler, who held a precarious existence, fraught with exciting incidents and checkered with hair-breadth escapes. There are not many now living who can remember Daniel Felera and his beautiful lugger, carrying 182 tons and mounting 14 guns-one of the most lovely models of a craft that ever broke through salt water-and it is seldom now that that peculiar sort of boat, which the smugglers call "a death," is to be seen stealing across the channel like a sea-snake, but there are those yet in existence at Dover who must have a vivid recollection of the untimely fate of the kind-hearted Ned Norwood and his bold companions, who perished in one of these dangerous "coffins." The whole race of smugglers used to be an especial class of men, amongst whom a sort of free-masonry was rigidly observed, and the names which their god-fathers and god-mothers gave them were never breathed amongst themselves. At this moment memory calls to mind two brothers of the free-trade who had been brought up to it from infancy, and were only known by their associates as "Cold-toast" and "Blow-the-bellows"-they were perfect samples of the great bulk of the profession. And yet it is worthy of observation, that though a sort of fellowship was kept up among the whole body, yet a very marked distinction prevailed between the runners of the three great smuggling towns, Deal, Dover, and Folkestone, and it was no difficult matter to tell which place a professor hailed from.

Our smuggler was from Deal, and after a short conversation with the officer of the watch, sundry tubs of good Hollands gin were handed up the side, payment was made, and the daring fellow pushed off. Previous, however, to his departure, he had carefully employed his glass in surveying the horizon, and I observed that his sight rested for several minutes on one particular spot in-shore, to which he again returned when he had completed the sweep.

The boat of the smugglers could not be much short of forty feet in

length, painted white, with a crew of nine men in all, and before quitting the ship they unstepped the masts and stowed the sails; they then took to their oars, which being muffled, they moved away noiselessly towards the North Foreland, and were soon lost to the unassisted sight. In about ten minutes afterwards bright flashes were seen, and the reports of musketry were heard in the direction she had taken, and it was evident they proceeded from two distinct places, so as to induce the belief that the bold outlaws had fallen in, and were engaged with, the watchful guardians of the revenue. Nor were we deceived, for we soon perceived the smuggler under his lugs standing out, and as the breeze was fresh, none but men under the most desperate circumstances would have attempted to carry so heavy a press of canvass. The smugglers passed well ahead of us, either not caring to trust themselves within our reach, or else to gain as much weather offing as possible. The forecastle of the Indiaman was crowded with the watch and such of the passengers as had been aroused by the firing, and many were the good wishes uttered by the seamen that the daring fellows might escape. But to the surprise of every one, no boat was seen in pursuit, and the smuggler gradually disappeared in the gloom of night.

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"Sharp work for the eyes, Mr. Grummett," said the second officer addressing me as I stood at the gangway looking towards the spot where I had last seen the boat; Sharp work for the eyes, that smuggling-they must be well in with the French coast by day-light or some of the cruisers will pick them up: it is rather strange they were not chased too."

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"Perhaps, Sir," I suggested, some of the revenue-men have been wounded, and they have thought it right to pull in-shore for the doctor." "Very true, young gentleman," he replied, "it is very probably the case, and by no means unlikely that some of the smugglers have got an eyelet hole or two worked in their pea-jackets-a musket-ball, Mr. Grummett, is a sad spoiler of broad-cloth, as I understand you are pretty well acquainted with. But, halloo! what's that noise on the forecastle?"

A dull, heavy sound, like half-stifled groaning, came upon our ears, and the hollow moaning instantly reminded me of a similar effect produced by the distant shouting from the long-boat saved by the Asia, as described in the United Service Journal for June of last year, page 168. We listened attentively, and the starboard bow and gangway was soon occupied by the watch, who distinctly heard the noise-it was repeated. "I know the cry, Sir!" exclaimed I, rather agitated by old recollections, "it is the union of many voices joined in one universal utterance of distress."

"You are right, boy," replied the second mate, "I, too, have heard it before," and he appeared to me to shudder; he directed his glass. towards the spot from whence the sounds seemed to proceed, but could make nothing out except the white breakers rolling over and over the shoals. Another far-off shout came down upon the wind, or rather sounded as if it had been borne to leeward, or passing us before we caught its swell. "Clear away the starboard quarter-boat abaft-bear a hand, my men, but be steady. Mr. Grummett, look out, Sir, whilst I inform the Captain."-He entered the cabin, and after a short conference with the Commander, returned once more to the quarter-deck.

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