The Rajah's letter to Captain Keppel, and his reply.--Prepares
for an expedition against the Sarebus pirates.--Pleasure
excursion up the river.--The Chinese settlement.--The Singe
mountain.--Interior of the residences.--Dyak festival of
Maugut.--Relics.--Sporting.--Return to Sarawak.--The expedition
against Sarebus.--State and number of the assailing force.--Ascent
of the river.--Beauty of the scenery.
_May 21st._--I received intimation that the rajah had written a letter,
and wished me to appoint a time and place, that it might be presented
in due form. Accordingly I attended in Mr. Brooke's hall of audience on
the following day, where I found collected all the chiefs, and a crowd
of natives, many of them having already been informed that the said
letter was a requisition for me to assist in putting down the hordes
of pirates who had so long infested the coast. I believe many of those
present, especially the Borneons, to have been casually concerned,
if not deeply implicated, in some of their transactions. After I had
taken my seat with Mr. Brooke at the head of the table, the rajah's
sword-bearers entered, clearing the way for the huge yellow canopy,
under the shade of which, on a large brass tray, and carefully sewn
up in a yellow silk bag, was the letter, from which it was removed,
and placed in my hands by the Pangeran Budrudeen. I opened the bag
with my knife, and giving it to an interpreter, he read it aloud
in the Malayan tongue. It was variously received by the audience,
many of whose countenances were far from prepossessing.
The following is a copy of the letter, to which was affixed the
rajah's seal:
"This friendly epistle, having its source in a pure mind,
comes from Rajah Muda Hassim, next in succession to the royal
throne of the kingdom of Borneo, and who now holds his court at
the trading city of Sarawak, to our friend Henry Keppel, head
captain of the war-frigate belonging to her Britannic Majesty,
renowned throughout all countries--who is valiant and discreet,
and endowed with a mild and gentle nature:
"This is to inform our friend that there are certain great pirates,
of the people of Sarebus and Sakarran, in our neighborhood,
seizing goods and murdering people on the high seas. They have
more than three hundred war-prahus, and extend their ravages even
to Banjarmassim; they are not subject to the government of Bruni
(Borneo); they take much plunder from vessels trading between
Singapore and the good people of our country.
"It would be a great service if our friend would adopt measures
to put an end to these piratical outrages.
"We can present nothing better to our friend than a kris, such
as it is.
"20th day of Rahial Akhir, 1257."
To which I sent the following reply:--
"Captain Keppel begs to acknowledge the receipt of the Rajah
Muda Hassim's letter, representing that the Dyaks of Sarebus and
Sakarran are the pirates who infest the coast of Borneo, and do
material damage to the trade of Singapore.
"Captain Keppel will take speedy measures to suppress these and
all other pirates, and feels confident that her Britannic Majesty
will be glad to learn that the Rajah Muda Hassim is ready to
cooeperate in so laudable an undertaking."
Not being prepared for the oriental fashion of exchanging presents,
I had nothing to offer to his rajahship; but I found out afterward
that Mr. Brooke had (unknown to me) sent him a clock in my name. The
royal kris was handsome, the handle of carved ivory, with a good deal
of gold about it.
This information about the pirates gave me good ground to make a
beginning; and having arranged with Mr. Brooke to obtain all necessary
intelligence relative to their position, strength, and numbers, [16]
I determined on attacking them in their strongholds, commencing with
the Sarebus, who, from all accounts, were by far the most strongly
fortified. Mr. Brooke accepted my invitation to accompany us, as well
as to supply a native force of about three hundred men, who, should
we succeed in the destruction of the pirate forts, would be useful in
the jungle. Mr. Brooke's going to join personally in a war against (in
the opinion of the Datus) such formidable opponents as the Sakarran and
Sarebus pirates--who had never yet been conquered, although repeatedly
attacked by the united forces of the surrounding rajahs--was strongly
opposed by the chiefs. On his informing them that he should go, but
leaving it optional whether they would accompany him or not, their
simple reply was, "What is the use of our remaining? If you die,
we die; and if you live, we live; we will go with you." Preparations
for the expedition were accordingly commenced.
No place could have suited us better for a refit. Within a few yards
of the ship was a Chinese workshop. Our boats were hauled up to repair
under sheds, and we drew our fresh water alongside; and while the
Dido was at Sarawak, Mr. Jago, the carpenter, built a very beautiful
thirty-foot gig, having cut the plank up in the Chinaman's sawpit.
While these works were in progress, I accompanied Mr. Brooke up the
river. The Royalist having been dispatched to Singapore with our
letters, we started on our pleasure-excursion. With the officers
from the Dido and the chiefs, who always accompany the "Tuan Besar,"
we mustered about sixty persons; and with our guns, walking-sticks,
cigars, and a well supplied commissariat, determined to enjoy
ourselves.
We were not long in making the acquaintances of the chiefs. Men
who had formerly rebelled, who were conquered by Mr. Brooke, and
had their (forfeited) lives saved, their families restored to them,
and themselves finally reinstated in the offices they had previously
held--these men were very naturally and faithfully attached. Our young
gentlemen found their Malayan names difficult to remember, so that the
gallant old Patingi Ali was seldom called any other name than that of
"Three-Fingered Jack," from his having lost part of his right hand;
the Tumangong was spoken of as the "Father of Hopeful," from one of
his children, a fine little fellow, whom he was foolishly attached to,
and seldom seen without.
Der Macota, who had sometime before received the appellation of
"the Serpent," had, ever since he got his orders to quit, some six
months before, been preparing his boats, but which were ready in an
incredibly short time after the Dido's arrival; and thus Mr. Brooke got
rid of that most intriguing and troublesome rascal; a person who had,
from the commencement, been trying to supplant and ruin him. He it was
that gave the Sakarran pirates permission to ascend the river for the
purpose of attacking the comparatively defenceless mountain Dyaks;
and he it was that persecuted the unfortunate young Illanun chief,
Si Tundo, even to his assassination. He was at last got rid of from
Sarawak, but only to join and plan mischief with that noted piratical
chief, Seriff Sahib; he, however, met his deserts.
We ascended the river in eight or ten boats. The scene to us was
most novel, and particularly fresh and beautiful. We stopped at an
empty house on a cleared spot on the left bank during the ebb-tide,
to cook our dinner; in the cool of the afternoon we proceeded with
the flood; and late in the evening brought up for the night in a
snug little creek close to the Chinese settlement. We slept in native
boats, which were nicely and comfortably fitted for the purpose. At
an early hour Mr. Brooke was waited on by the chief of the Kunsi;
and on visiting their settlement he was received with a salute of
three guns. We found it kept in their usual neat and clean order,
particularly their extensive vegetable gardens; but being rather
pressed for time, we did not visit the mines, but proceeded to the
villages of different tribes of Dyaks living on the Sarambo mountain,
numbers of whom had been down to welcome us, very gorgeously dressed
in feathers and scarlet.
The foot of the mountain was about four miles from the landing-place;
and a number of these kind savages voluntarily shouldered our
provisions, beds, bags, and baggage, and we proceeded on our march. We
did not expect to find quite a turnpike-road; but, at the same time,
I, for one, was not prepared for the dance led us by our wild cat-like
guides through thick jungle, and alternately over rocky hills, or up
to our middles in the soft marshes we had to cross. Our only means of
doing so was by feeling on the surface of the mud (it being covered
in most places about a foot deep with grass or discolored water)
for light spars thrown along lengthwise and quite unconnected, while
our only support was an occasional stake at irregular distances,
at which we used to rest, as the spars invariably sunk into the mud
if we attempted to stop; and there being a long string of us, many
a fall and flounder in the mud (gun and all) was the consequence.
The ascent of the hill, although as steep as the side of a house,
was strikingly beautiful. Our resting-places, unluckily, were but few;
but when we did reach one, the cool, fresh breeze, and the increasing
extent and variety of scene--our view embracing, as it did, all the
varieties of river, mountain, wood, and sea--amply repaid us for the
exertion of the lower walk; and, on either hand, we were sure to have a
pure cool rivulet tumbling over the rocks. While going up, however, our
whole care and attention were requisite to secure our own safety; for
it is not only one continued climb up ladders, but such ladders! They
are made of the single trunk of a tree in its rough and rounded state,
with notches, not cut at the reasonable distance apart of the ratlins
of our rigging, but requiring the knee to be brought up to the level
of the chin before the feet are sufficiently parted to reach from
one step to another; and that, when the muscles of the thigh begin
to ache, and the wind is pumped out of the body, is distressing work.
We mounted, in this manner, some 500 feet; and it was up this steep
that Mr. Brooke had ascended only a few months before, with two hundred
followers, to attack the Singe Dyaks. He has already described the
circular halls of these Dyaks, in one of which we were received,
hung round, as the interior of it is, with hundreds of human heads,
most of them dried with the skin and hair on; and to give them, if
possible, a more ghastly appearance, small shells (the cowry) are
inserted where the eyes once were, and tufts of dried grass protrude
from the ears. But my eyes soon grew accustomed to the sight; and by
the time dinner was ready (I think I may say _we_) thought no more
about them than if they had been as many cocoa-nuts.
Of course the natives crowded round us; and I noticed that with these
simple people it was much the same as with the more civilized, and
that curiosity was strongest in the gentler sex; and again, that the
young men came in more gorgeously dressed, wearing feathers, necklaces,
armlets, ear-rings, bracelets, beside jackets of various-colored silks,
and other vanities--than the older and wiser chiefs, who encumbered
themselves with no more dress than what decency actually required,
and were, moreover, treated with the greatest respect.
We strolled about from house to house without causing the slightest
alarm: in all we were welcomed, and invited to squat ourselves on
their mats with the family. The women, who were some of them very
good-looking, did not run from us as the plain-headed Malays would have
done; but laughed and chatted to us by signs in all the consciousness
of innocence and virtue.
We were fortunate in visiting these Dyaks during one of their grand
festivals (called Maugut); and in the evening, dancing, singing,
and drinking were going on in various parts of the village. In one
house there was a grand _fete_, in which the women danced with the
men. The dress of the women was simple and curious--a light jacket
open in front, and a short petticoat not coming below the knees,
fitting close, was hung round with jingling bits of brass, which kept
"making music" wherever they went. The movement was like all other
native dances--graceful, but monotonous. There were four men, two of
them bearing human sculls, and two the fresh heads of pigs; the women
bore wax-lights, or yellow rice on brass dishes. They danced in line,
moving backward and forward, and carrying the heads and dishes in both
hands; the graceful part was the manner in which they half turned the
body to the right and left, looking over their shoulders and holding
the heads in the opposite direction, as if they were in momentary
expectation of some one coming up behind to snatch the nasty relic
from them. At times the women knelt down in a group, with the men
leaning over them. After all, the music was not the only thing wanting
to make one imagine oneself at the opera. The necklaces of the women
were chiefly of teeth--bears' the most common--human the most prized.
In an interior house at one end were collected the relics of the
tribe. These consisted of several round-looking stones, two deer's
heads, and other inferior trumpery. The stones turn black if the
tribe is to be beaten in war, and red if to be victorious; any one
touching them would be sure to die; if lost, the tribe would be ruined.
The account of the deer's heads is still more curious: A young Dyak
having dreamed the previous night that he should become a great
warrior, observed two deer swimming across the river, and killed
them; a storm came on with thunder and lightning, and darkness
came over the face of the earth; he died immediately, but came to
life again, and became a rumah guna (literally a _useful house_)
and chief of his tribe; the two deer still live, and remain to watch
over the affairs of the tribe. These heads have descended from their
ancestors from the time when they first became a tribe and inhabited
the mountain. Food is always kept placed before them, and renewed from
time to time. While in the circular building, which our party named
"the scullery," a young chief (Meta) seemed to take great pride in
answering our interrogatories respecting different skulls which we
took down from their hooks: two belonged to chiefs of a tribe who had
made a desperate defence; and judging from the incisions on the heads,
each of which must have been mortal, it must have been a desperate
affair. Among other trophies was half a head, the skull separated
from across between the eyes, in the same manner that you would
divide that of a hare or rabbit to get at the brain--this was their
division of the head of an old woman, which was taken when another
(a friendly) tribe was present, who likewise claimed their half. I
afterward saw these tribes share a head. But the skulls, the account
of which our informant appeared to dwell on with the greatest delight,
were those which were taken while the owners were asleep--cunning with
them being the perfection of warfare. We slept in their "scullery;"
and my servant Ashford, who happened to be a sleep-walker, that
night jumped out of the window, and unluckily on the steep side;
and had not the ground been well turned up by the numerous pigs,
and softened by rain, he must have been hurt.
_May 25th._--Having returned to our boats, we moved up another branch
of the river, for the purpose of deer-shooting, and landed under some
large shady trees. The sportsmen divided into two small parties, and,
under the guidance of the natives, went in search of game, leaving
the remainder of the party to prepare dinner against our return.
The distance we had to walk to get to our ground was what our guides
considered nothing--some five miles through jungle; and one of the
most distressing parts in jungle-walking is the having to climb over
the fallen trunks of immense trees.
A short time before sunset we came to a part of the jungle that
opened on to a large swamp, with long rank grass about six feet high,
across which was a sort of Dyak bridge. The guide having made signs
for me to advance, I cautiously crept to the edge of the jungle; and
after some little trouble, and watching the direction of his finger, I
observed the heads of two deer, male and female, protruding just above
the grass at about sixty yards' distance. From the manner the doe was
moving about her long ears, it had, to my view, all the appearance of a
rabbit. Shooting for the pot, I selected her. As soon as I fired, some
of my boat's crew made a dash into the grass; and in an instant three
of them were nearly up to their chins in mud and water, and we had
some difficulty in dragging them out: Our Malay guide more knowingly
crossed the bridge; and being acquainted with the locality, reached the
deer from the opposite side, taking care to utter a prayer and cut the
throat with the head in the direction of the Prophet's tomb at Mecca,
without which ceremony no true follower of Islam could partake of the
meat. The doe was struck just below the ear; and my native companion
appeared much astonished at the distance and deadly effect with which
my smooth-bored _Westley Richards_ had conveyed the ball.
The buck had got off before the smoke had cleared sufficiently for me
to see him. From what I had heard, I was disappointed at not seeing
more game. The other party had not killed anything, although they
caught a little fawn, having frightened away the mother.
My time was so occupied during my stay in Borneo, that I am unable
to give any account of the sport to be found in the island. Neither
had Mr. Brooke seen much of it; unless an excursion or two he had
made in search of new specimens of the ourang-outang, or mias, may
be brought under that head. This excursion he performed not only
with the permission and under the protection, but as the guest,
of the piratical chief Seriff Sahib; little thinking that, in four
years afterward, he would himself, as a powerful rajah, be the cause
of destroying his town, and driving him from the country.
So much for sporting. The pleasure, I believe, increases in
proportion to the risk. But, while on the subject, I may mention
that of pig-shooting, which I found an amusement not to be despised,
especially if you approach your game before life is extinct. The jaws
are long, tusks also, and sharp as a razor; and when once wounded,
the animals evince a strong inclination to return the compliment:
they are active, cunning, and very fast. I shot several at different
times. The natives also describe a very formidable beast, the size of
a large bullock, found farther to the northward, which they appear to
hold in great dread. This I conceive to be a sort of bison; and if so,
the sporting in Borneo altogether is not so bad.
The following day we went to other ground for deer; but the Dyaks had
now enjoyed peace so long that the whole country was in a state of
cultivation; and after scrambling over tracts of wild-looking country,
in which Mr. Brooke, two years before, had seen the deer in hundreds,
we returned to our boats, and down the river to Sarawak.
We now began to prepare in earnest for work of another sort. The
news of our intended attack on the Sarebus pirates had soon reached
them, and spread all over the country; and we had daily accounts of
the formidable resistance they intended to make. By the 4th July
our preparations were complete, and the ship had dropped down to
the mouth of the river. I forgot to mention that all the adjoining
seriffs had, in the greatest consternation, sent me assurances
of their future good intentions. Seriff Jaffer, who lived with an
industrious but warlike race of Dyaks up the Linga river, a branch
of the Batang Lupar, had never been known to commit piracy, and had
been frequently at war with both the Sarebus and Sakarrans, offered
to join our expedition. From Seriff Sahib, who lived up a river at
Sadong, adjoining the Sarebus territory, and to whom the "Serpent"
Macota had gone, Mr. Brooke and myself had invitations to partake of
a feast on our way to the Sarebus river. This was accompanied with a
present of a couple of handsome spears and a porcupine, and also an
offer to give up the women and children he had, with the assistance of
the Sakarran pirates, captured from the poor Sow Dyaks up the Sarawak.
Farther to the eastward, and up the Batang Lupar, into which the
Sakarran runs, lived another powerful seriff by the name of Muller,
elder brother and coadjutor of Seriff Sahib. These all, however,
through fear at the moment, sent in submissive messages; but their
turn had not yet come, and we proceeded toward the Sarebus.
The island of Burong, off which the Dido was to remain at anchor, we
made the first place of rendezvous. The force from the Dido consisted
of her pinnace, two cutters, and a gig; beside which Mr. Brooke lent us
his native-built boat, the Jolly Bachelor, carrying a long six-pounder
brass gun and thirty of our men; also a large tope of thirty-five tons,
which carried a well-supplied commissariat, as well as ammunition.
The native force was extensive; but I need only mention the names of
those from Sarawak. The three chiefs (the Tumangong and two Patingis,
Gapoor and Ali) had two large boats, each carrying about 180 men. Then
there was the rajah's large, heavy boat, with the rascally Borneons
and about 40 men, and sundry other Sarawak boats; and, beside,
a Dyak force of about 400 men from the different tribes of Lundu,
Sow, Singe, &c. Of course, it caused some trouble to collect this
wild, undisciplined armament, and two or three successive points of
rendezvous were necessary; and it was the morning of the 8th before
we entered the river. Lieutenant Wilmot Horton was to command the
expedition; with him, in the pinnace, were Mr. W. L. Partridge, mate;
Dr. Simpson, assistant-surgeon; Mr. Hallowes, midshipman; 14 seamen,
and 5 marines. In the first cutter was Mr. D'Aeth, Mr. Douglas,
from Sarawak, and Mr. Collins, the boatswain; in the second cutter,
Mr. Elliott, the master, and Mr. Jenkins, midshipman. The Jolly
Bachelor was commanded by Lieutenant Tottenham, and Mr. Comber,
midshipman, with Mr. Brooke's medical friend, Dr. Treacher, and an
amateur gentleman, Mr. Ruppel, from Sarawak. The force from the
Dido was about 80, officers and men. The command of the boats,
when sent away from a man-of-war, is the perquisite of the first
lieutenant. My curiosity, however, would not allow me to resist the
temptation of attending the party in my gig; and I had my friend
Mr. Brooke as a companion, who was likewise attended by a sampan and
crew he had taken with him to Sarawak from Singapore. His coxswain,
Seboo, we shall all long remember: he was civil only to his master,
and, I believe, brave while in his company. He was a stupid-looking
and powerfully-built sort of savage, always praying, eating, smiling,
or sleeping. When going into action, he always went down on his knees
to pray, holding his loaded musket before him. He was, however, a
curious character, and afforded us great amusement--took good care
of himself and his master, but cared for no one else.
In the second gig was Lieutenant E. Gunnell, whose troublesome duty it
was to preserve order throughout this extensive musketoe fleet, and to
keep the natives from pressing too closely on the rear of our boats--an
office which became less troublesome as we approached the scene of
danger. The whole formed a novel, picturesque, and exciting scene; and
it was curious to contemplate the different feelings that actuated the
separate and distinct parties--the odd mixture of Europeans, Malays,
and Dyaks, the different religions, and the eager and anxious manner
in which all pressed forward. The novelty of the thing was quite
sufficient to excite our Jacks, after having been cooped up so long
on board ship, to say nothing of the chance of a broken head.
Of the Malays and Dyaks who accompanied us, some came from curiosity,
some from attachment to Mr. Brooke, and many for plunder, but I
think the majority to gratify revenge, as there were but few of the
inhabitants on the north coast of Borneo who had not suffered more or
less from the atrocities of the Sarebus and Sakarran pirates--either
their houses burned, their relations murdered, or their wives and
children captured and sold into slavery.
We did not get far up the river the first day, as the tope was
very slow, and carried that most essential part of all expeditions,
the commissariat. Patingi Ali, who had been sent the day before to
await the force in the mouth of the Sarebus, fell in with five or six
native boats, probably on the look-out for us, to which he gave chase,
and captured one, the rest retreating up the river.
On the 9th June, 1843, we had got some thirty miles in the same
direction; every thing was in order; and, as we advanced, I pulled
from one end of my little fleet to the other, and felt much the same
sort of pride as Sir William Parker must have experienced when leading
seventy-five sail of British ships up the Yeang-tse Keang river into
the very heart of the Celestial Empire. It rained hard; but we were
well supplied with kajans, a mat admirably adapted to keep out the wet;
and securely covered in, my gig had all the appearance of a native
boat, especially as I had substituted paddles for oars. In this manner
I frequently went a little in advance of the force; and on the 9th I
came on a couple of boats, hauled close in under the jungle, apparently
perfectly unconscious of my approach. I concluded them to be part
of the small fleet of boats that had been chased, the previous day,
in the mouth of the river; and when abreast of them, and within range,
I fired from my rifle. The crews of each boat immediately precipitated
themselves into the water, and escaped into the jungle. They were
so closely covered in, that I did not see any one at first; but I
found that my ball had passed through both sides of an iron kettle,
in which they were boiling some rice. How astonished the cook must
have been! On coming up, our Dyak followers dashed into the jungle
in pursuit of the fugitives, but without success.
We moved on leisurely with the flood-tide, anchoring always on the
ebb, by which means we managed to collect our stragglers and keep the
force together. Toward the evening, by the incessant sound of distant
gongs, we were aware that our approach was known, and that preparations
were making to repel us. These noises were kept up all night; and we
occasionally heard the distant report of ordnance, which was fired,
of course, to intimidate us. During the day, several deserted boats
were taken from the banks of the river and destroyed, some of them
containing spears, shields, and ammunition, with a few fire-arms.
The place we brought up at for the night was called Boling; but here
the river presented a troublesome and dangerous obstacle in what is
called the bore, caused by the tide coming in with a tremendous rush,
as if an immense wave of the sea had suddenly rolled up the stream,
and, finding itself confined on either side, extended across,
like a high bank of water, curling and breaking as it went, and,
from the frightful velocity with which it passes up, carrying all
before it. There are, however, certain bends of the river where the
bore does not break across: it was now our business to look out for
and gain these spots between the times of its activity. The natives
hold them in great dread.
From Boling the river becomes less deep, and not safe for large
boats; so that here we were obliged to leave our tope with the
commissariat, and a sufficient force for her protection, as we had
received information that thirteen piratical boats had been some time
cruising outside, and were daily expected up the river on their return,
when our unguarded tope would have made them an acceptable prize. In
addition to this, we were now fairly in the enemy's country: and for
all we knew, hundreds of canoes might have been hid in the jungle,
ready to lanch. Just below Boling, the river branches off to the
right and left; that to the left leading to another nest of pirates
at Pakoo, who are (by land) in communication with those of Paddi,
the place it was our intention to attack first.
Having provisioned our boats for six days, and provided a strong guard
to remain with the tope, the native force not feeling themselves
safe separated from the main body,--we started, a smaller and more
select party than before, but, in my opinion, equally formidable,
leaving about 150 men. This arrangement gave but little satisfaction
to those left behind, our men not liking to exchange an expedition
where a fight was certain, for a service in which it was doubtful,
although their position was one of danger, being open to attack
from three different parts of the river. Our party now consisted of
the Dido's boats, the three Datus from Sarawak, and some Sow Dyaks,
eager for heads and plunder. We arrived at our first resting-place
early in the afternoon, and took up a position in as good order as
the small space would admit.
I secured my gig close to the bank, under the shade of a large tree,
at some little distance from the fleet of boats; and, by myself,
contemplated my novel position--in command of a mixed force of
500 men, some seventy miles up a river in the interior of Borneo;
on the morrow about to carry all the horrors of war among a race of
savage pirates, whose country no force had ever yet dared to invade,
and who had been inflicting with impunity every sort of cruelty on
all whom they encountered, for more than a century.
As the sun went down, the scene was beautiful, animated by the variety
and picturesque appearance of the native prahus, and the praying of
the Mussulman, with his face in the direction of the Prophet's tomb,
bowing his head to the deck of his boat, and absorbed in devotions from
which nothing could withdraw his attention. For a time--it being that
for preparing the evening meal--no noise was made: it was a perfect
calm; and the rich foliage was reflected in the water as in a mirror,
while a small cloud of smoke ascended from each boat, to say nothing of
that from my cigar, which added much to the charm I then experienced.
Late in the evening, when the song and joke passed from boat to boat,
and the lights from the different fires were reflected in the water,
the scenery was equally pleasing; but later still, when the lights
were out, there being no moon, and the banks overhung with trees,
it was so dark that no one could see beyond his own boat.
A little after midnight, a small boat was heard passing up the river,
and was regularly hailed by us in succession; to which they replied,
"We belong to your party." And it was not until the yell of triumph,
given by six or eight voices, after they had (with a strong flood-tide
in their favor) shot past the last of our boats, that we found how
we had been imposed on.