The Express.
London, England, 1847-04-03 00:00:00

THE BORNEO PIRATES.

Her Meleers ship bid, off the Comet of Borneo,
Ague HI, 1565.—1 a my hat lakes I gam you the history
of the late praseedlags of en aquadrea against the Maroon
pirates, of Week detest, and Otte rissbneedea ;dither? dram-
hohle is the rime Tampmesek and Pinkish'. I will sow
preeint you with a skein of the subsequent operations of
the Iris eon* the Scion's general, Radgi Eamon, who
was still eanying en hortaities, in cenjamtion with the
&Mee, spin the maim tribes who were friendly to the
English. It was this siker who had commanded the prin-
cipal battery whisk fired upon our squadron, on the attack
of Brum, nt Jana last.
On the 7th hat I parted company with the comonander-
la-chief, and so sante? war the squadron out of sight than I
seat Li 'Miming Little away with my boats, and Sr. days'
provisions, with olden to entire that time along the coast,
and jets me 100 miles to the southward. The admiral's
*edam to no ware, to carry on the war against the Illanooo
mete by sea and had, assamling to my distenies, and to
look aver the selient fat ddelnis, Hadgi derson she bad
bees the shim One whoa in the howl. em
INN MIA she, It was sear refereed, Ind nein
refuge ismseriaare sminget the phstasl teems.
On the llth I seshored at £mkwg, and Lhatineni
Litlllignelr:ed me. He had captured sae re me viso-
r& and had burnt • large limast village, after our
uthunit es eta* &ma • large bed, et siren, whe threw
germ hen the lamb at Wm bune,lent nee
driven ee with the her of weed Sled ea ersea_wi
me Ins hewn ea eu eii
hilobilasielt the ger
lids of Mi r Mein,thaie

though lb owes desk Sato lir
yards of the planate, hurling liar ie awl saddles up
their erg, wooden &kW to pretest *maim
On the 14th we somborei ell Ziesenle, were Mr.
resolved iakomation that Radii Brass had fortified him-
self in the Manhasset river, ilatmot say el: miles, and that
nine gos-besda, width bad bola out from Borneo to attack
his, had found his relies too stresqb and had, therefore,
decided to rends idf Lemon till the arrival of the frigate.
I gave directions, therefore, to Mr. Little to be ready with
tai the boats of the Iris at daylight the tillowing morning,
Mimed W the Phlagethon cutters, and to proceed to attack
tW noted aid, whims: he might be found. Mr. Brooke
Gni annuesend him by emilridatimmoeseenger to the
Dysk AK &OW Ma to gime or Simon, and enter
late friendly eirminnederlion mide Is. return message
was an iambs* bit of Itomio, deololos an to came and
take him, and that they were not afraid-of our shot, which
they would catch in their heads, and throw back at cur
boats.

Neither Mr. Brook* nor myself had intended to take any
active part in the expedition, but the unlooked-for, and, I
may add, extraordinary circumstance of the sudden snivel
of 90 war praline, carrying 20 guns, and about 400 men,
under their chiefs, inhabiting districts for 20 miles round, for
the purpose of paying their respects to the English rajah,
and to enure him of their anxiety for legitimate commerce,
and their wish to be friends of England, entirely altered the
position of affairs. Mr. Brooke with his accustomed decision,
after a lengthened discussion with their chieftains, declared
it to be bin belief that they were honest men, and that
it would be very impolitic on our part to refuse the offer
of their aid, and that he should wish to accompany them.
Of course I sequined immediately, and it was arranged
that we should go together in the gig, thus putting implicit
confidence in their faith, whilst Lieutenant Little could
always keep his forces compactly together, reedy to act on
the tart semblance of treachery.
At five a.m, on the 18th, the boats were in movement.
At eight I crossed the bar in a beautiful new gig
the admiral gave me, the principle Pangeran of our new
allies showing the channel. Lieutenant Little's force
came next, and about • quarter of a mile in the rear
the large fleet of prahus. It was a picturesque :scene,
boat a.'ter boat dashing through the surf with their gaudy
flags and long streamers, and then shooting into the
unruffled stream beyond, and taking up their assigned
positions, which were well under command of my guns and
rockets. Our force now commenced pulling up against a
strong ebb, and after three good hours at the oars, the
tint attempt to oppose our progress appeared in large
rafts floating down, and soon afterwards the report of
guns in the distance was heard. On pulling swiftly round
• point to clear one of the rafts, the gig being then about
60 yards a-head of the main division, we come suddenly
upon • long line of thick bamboo stakes fixed across
the stream, with an immense boom attached to them,
but which, owing to the &tribes, bad swung athwart.
Facing these defences, only eighty yards distant, a fort
had been meted, which, u soon as our hosts came into
view, opened fire. Before the enemy could reload, I fell
bask ripen the gun-boats, and ordered Mr. Little to give
way mad nat them." He was soon followed by the barge
MI MUM, and the action beanie genesal--shat, rockets,
sad stay; bat owing to the slareigus of tide it was
isa =butts' before my fleet lieutenant etrt over the
sheet diaries ; and when he finally ca the fort, he
hod it had been armed with small swivel guns only, which
the defenders had managed to carry into the jangle. Ono
of our native allies recognised Haelep Samoa and his Borman
sub-officers in the battery. Having demolished the fort, and
destroyed the magazines, 'munition, &c., we pushed on,
without losing time ; and observing, as we passed *narrow
creek, • prahu endeavouring to esespe, we dashed at her,
and captured her, the crew, who escaped, leaving behind
their spears krises, and sumpelans—i. e., quivers of poisoned
arrows. The country was now extremely beautiful. The
interior of the homes were extremely neat—mats, threshing
and knitting machines, ordinary implements, and other fur-
niture, in capital order; and had it not been for the nume-
rous human skulls suspended from the ceiling in regular fes-
toons, with the thigh and arm bones occupying the inter-
vening spaces , sad other ornamentspeculiar to the wildest
chile of Dyaks, I should have fancied myself in a civilised
land.
At three P.M., on coming 'to • turn of the river, a '-
ficent man.ion presented itself to our view, the verandah of
which gave • frontage of 200 feet by 20 in breadth. It was
close to the river, and partially concealed by cocoa-nut trees.
One of these had been cut down, and of it a kind of ahattis
was made, from behind which, as our boats advanced, a
masked battery was opened. The guns were quickly
silenced, and I was not long in jumping on terra firma, rifle
in hand. The enemy were driven into the interior, carrying
off their killed and wounded. The house was soon in flames ;
and amongst the internal decorations consumed were fifty
busman skulls, and as many packages of human bones, many
of them evidently the latest gifts of the Dyak gentlemen to
their lady loves; for you must know that no aristocratic
youth dare venture to pay his addresses to the fair one unless
he throws at a blushing maiden's eat a net full of skulls at
the same time that he offer his hand and heart.
At four, P.M., we bivouacked for the night, and early in
the morning of the 17th, a deserter from Hadgi Semen
swam across the river to our camp, and informed us that
his chief bad retreated in despair to the houses at the head
of the river. At early dawn, therefore, we were on his
track, and in half an hour • cheer from the headmost boats
signalised that the last refuge of the enemy was in sight.
A few strokes more and our guns and rockets were in
play, and after a vain endeavour of the resolute chief,
by musketry and sunspots, to oppose our steely
advance, he was compelled to abandon his fortress and
retreat into the wilderness. Having burnt all the build-
ings of theft inhabitants who had taken an active part
against us, we returned down the river, and were on board
the ship by meet. Our loss was one seaman of the Iris
killed, and four wounded; two of the Phlegsthon's, and
eight of our native allies wounded.
The native chiefs rendezvoused at the Phlegethon, where
we entertained them till a late hour, each of them swearing
to protest the persons and property of all shipwrecked or
distressed Europeans who might be driven on their iron-
bound coast; and I really hope we have made • commence-
ment in the good work of rendering these seas secure for the
peaceful neder. The wonderful effect of our Congreve roc-
kets gave them an idea of our power, whilst our uniform
kindness to all the unpiratical tribes plainly bespoke our
anxiety to be friendly with the good.
(Signed) G. RODNEY MONDAY.
—Homing Herold.

ON THE MEANS OF ESCAPING THE
RAVAGES OP THE POTATO DISEASE.
(Trembled from the German.)
This method wee discovered by M. Zander, of Boit-
ultimo, end ke hes tried it for six years with the modest
mem The hilswfai extracts are made from his published
letter :
" For may pets a kind of dry rot end pedrinark hes
been obemnd wogs% potatoes, to eammissees of which
many of them were suite unfit for food ; this somgeeted to
ma the idea of obtaining them from seed, and I diristed my
alerts to Um merariag of fully-grown potatoes is one year,
in whisk I lime anceseded. The raking of pintoes from
seed is tribal, new—tha attempt has often bee. mode, but
ft required three, her, or fire years before they Game to
Peffeed•••
I first raised potatoes from seed six yeses SIC I sowed
an eighth of en
wholly see p
mum, and obtained nearly seven aseks of
fally•grown, d eeeless, althsegb the seas
year almost all the patellae" in my migthearissed was
eased by paelt-merk end by mt.
I ips regalarly raised plebes from seed mer sines,
and they lave roweehisi *semi B
laring the whole time, sad
bit re=ibewises the dieser bed ipaei over Ilarepa.
end anima in this
thew poistem wMtd reieedil=rbert
well es theme of the year, continued maw,
hem bosom have shwa potatoes rifle& trea
seed my friends end arembetaame, end them have abe
✓emained perfectly her from the esivereally previa', din-
ers. The Mlniseer of the Interim leek seal my pro-
essiias,
_ewe meat two Mines to invediesse es the met the
ilems Iha 1:0110121121811101 lo the goverement remes g say
pp s. These awes were passel when I eased some
peados@ to be dog set, 'Aka I had rebel hem reed the
cr Ware, and smeeftst them was a pied wig*
• Adrd hoes 100 to Err the
emeertibprilwe fr
ees roe wee half a mites,* as thi,
of the =
pima pramel flea ea to ea end a half liT
Potable pi
es
bow seed are way away
richer
, n
ea have
a pee:iiiirly piesenst sad Iles flamer; they produc a
third
ono IR chi wand peer, and it inereases in the ; there
is Om no fallow bireese, and they have attained their
greatest perihelia.
" Pros es ewe of seed you map raise upwards of fifty

• TM 3011 W bolds 14 ft d potatoes.