The Sun.
London, England, 1844-12-05 00:00:00

position. The first fort we found abandoned, but on the
approach of the steamer to her anchorage, the fort on
the right of the position opened a fire with e a guns,
which was returned. In the meantime the boats of the
DUo and Phlegethon dashed gallantly at the two orts
on the left, and the men landed and carried them. A
native boat, manned from the Dido, advameed to the
right hand fort, and, after an engagement of about ten
minutes, the third and lest fort was taken. The village
immediately in the vicinity of the forts was burnt, the
forts dismantled, and after a short pause the men 'sere`
landed, and marched-about half a mile to the town of
Shereef Sahib, where it was expected a further resist-
ance would be offered. The town, however, was found
deserted, and was burnt, while the enemy were pursued
iii every direction they showed themselves. From fifty
to sixty guns` of various sizes were taken in and near the
forts, and upwards of a tun of gunpowder was found in
a detached magazine behind Shereef Sahib's house. It
was evident how resolved this chief was to defend. hip-
self, as besides the forts already completed, eight other
forts, in different states of forwardness, were in the course
of erection ; and, had the attack been delayed, greater
trouble would have been experienced. and more lives lost
in the capture. The Bth and 9th were passed in burning
and destroying the rest of the straggling town, and
the boats, which were very numerous; and on the 10th
the force proceeded up the river, and, passing the river
Undup, anchored off the deserted town of Sakarran,
which was burnt. On the evening of the same day,
the native boat before-mentioned advanced up the Undup
a--few miles, and on the morning of the 11 th attacked
and carried a small fort, well situated on a hill, and de-
fended by a barrier across the river. The enemy retired
up a hill, and as they tsept up a straggling fire, a gallant
native chief, named Patine- Alli, landed with his party,
and drove them; sword in hand, from their position.
On the 12th, after overcoming numerous obstacles;-the
boats reached the town of Undup, which was deserted,
and passing on (leaving the Malays to destroy it)
worked till dark in removing the trees which bad been
felled across the river. The morning of the 13th the
same obstacles were encountered and overcome by twelve
o'clock, and the lighter boats were enabled to advance.
and continued, during the day, pulling against a strong
fresh breeze in the river. Early on the 14th it was evi-
dent that we were approaching the enemy, as a few
boats were fallen in with and taken in full retreat ; and
about nine o'clock a.m. a large fleet was found in a creek
below the Dyak village of Undup. Above the creek, on
a rising ground, was the temporary encampment of the
enemy, and the Dyak village stood on a hill above, at a
long musket range distance. The enemy abandoned
their boats and encampment and opened their fire from
the Dyak village upon our party. The position was
commanding, and, I regret to say, that Mr. Wade, the
first lieutenant of the Dido, was killed whilst gallantly
advancing to the assault. The place was carried with-
out a check, and the enemy were completely and finally
routed and driven in every direction into the jungle.
The object of the advance having been thus gained, the
force dropped down the same evening to the still burn-
ing town of Shereef Mulch. The 15th and 16th were
passed at the steamer, to rest the men after the severe
Logue encountered up the Undup, and in preparing for
an advance up the Sakarran river.
" The Sakarran, as I have said, is well cultivated on
the banks, and the advance was made for two days with
ease, although each night we were annoyed with parties
of, Dyaks, who threw spears from the bank, and occa-
sionally used the sumpitan or blowpipe. An advance of
Malay boats each day preceded the force, and burned
numerous villages on the way, but all the property had
been carefully removed into the interior, and it was
evident that the enemy were prepared beforehand for
cur coming.
" On the morning of the 19th a further advance was
made till nine o'clock, when the leading boats of the
Dido stopped to breakfast, and a force of about
t.n small native boats under Patingi Alli was sent in
advance to reconnoitre, with strict orders to fall back on
any appearance of the enemy. These boats soon came
up with a strong force of Dyaks, stationed on either
bank, and rashly advancing across a barrier thrown
over the river, pushed forward. When beyond the
reach of aid, a raft was cut adrift, and six large native
prahus, with from 50 to 60 men in each, suddenly bore
upon them (three from either bank), impelled down the
strong stream, and closed before it was possible to re-
treat. A scene of confusion and dismay followed, and
our native boats one after another were capsized, and
about 30 men were speared before the second gig and
pinnace of the Dido arrived to their relief. The fortune
of the day was soon turned, the war-boats were captured,
and the Dyaks were driven with great slaughter from
the banks, whilst the boats of the force advanced upon
thenliss quickly as the current would permit.
" The loss of the enemy must have been very great, as
a body of 4,000 or 5,00*a-flea were exposed to our fire-
arms for several minutes, and. the crews of the war
prahus severely handled before they get ashore. The
expedition may here be said to have closed, as no-fur-
ther opposition was offered, and the boats returning to
the Phlegethon, reached PutuSan on the 22d, where we
Here joined by two boats of her Majesty's ship Sama-
rarg (Sir Edward Belcher), and on the night of the
24th once again reached Sarawak. Having remained in
Sarawak a day or two. Captain Koppel received infor-
mation that Shereef Sahib had taken refuge iu the
Linga river, and that be was there collecting his fol-
lowers with the assistance of Shereef Jaffer, a resident
of that place. On the 28th the Phlegethon steamer and
the boats of her Majesty's ships Dido and Semarang
once more started, and proceeded up the river Linga.
After pushing forward for two days through numerous
obstacles, we had the satisfaction to learn that Shereef
Sahib, on hearing of our return, finally and precipi-
tately abandoned the country, and fled across the
mountains to the Pontianak river. The boats, in con-
sequence, returned to Banting, where a conference
was held with the Malays and Balow Dyaks of the place,
and it was fully explained to them that the measures
elken against piracy were for the protection of all
peaceful communities of the coast. From these people
many assurances were received of their willingness to
co-operate with us, and one and all were alike urgent
that the Government of their river should be transferred
to the English. On the 4th of September the force
reached Sarawak, and thus terminated a brilliant and
successful expedition against the worst pirates on the
coast of Borneo.

" It is needless here to mention the gallant conduct of
all concerned, but I may briefly sum up the service per-
formed and the obstacles overcome. A Malay horde,
long the terror of the coast, fully provided with arms and
ammunition, have been defeated and dispersed, and their
leaders driven from the country, while numerous peace-
able communities in the vicinity have been released from
a thraldom which has long borne heavily on their in-
dustry, and other chiefs have been shown what they
may expect should they follow the same course. The
Sakarran Dyaks have been punished along with the
Malays, and there is every reason to hope, now that the
evil influence of the chiefs is removed, they may shortly
be reclaimed from their piratical habits ; and, above all,
the sufferings of the inland Dyaks have been ended, and
the trade (which has yearly been more and more ob-
structed) protected from a horde of pirates who have
lung carried on their depredations with impunity. A
shoaling and rapid river has been ascended for upwards
of 100 miles, obstacles of no common description have
been removed, and the enemy beaten wherever encoun-
tered ; and all this peformed with a cheerfulness and
good-will which renders war an amusement as.well as
d.ity."