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which we did. I had not laid down many minutes when a volley of 

 stones were thrown at my boat ; some struck the wall of my cabin, 

 and others fell short and dropped into the water. This awoke 

 Yan Sing, who came and warned me to be prepared for action, 

 and then went to awake the people in the other boats, reminding 

 them of the instructions I had already issued ; which were, that no 

 one was to expose himself above the gunwale of the boats, nor fire 

 a shot until the word of command had been passed by me. Three 

 shots were now fired from the bank, the bullets striking into the 

 water some few yards beyond Yan Sing, who foolishly stood at the bow 

 of the boat with a bull's eye lantern in his hand. The next shot passed 

 through my cabin, smashing the lantern on the table, where but a 

 few minutes before I had stood arranging my cartridges ; the follow- 

 ing three shots appeared to have been directed at Yan Sing, for a bam- 

 boo, which was within a few inches of him, was struck in two places, 

 and the third bullet whizzed by sufficiently near, to make him drop 

 his lantern as though he had been killed. It was evident now that 

 they were bent on mischief, for the repeated warnings we gave 

 through the Kakhyen interpreters were received with jeers and 

 laughter. I fired six shots, at intervals of a minute or so in the direc- 

 tion of the village, for it was too dark to see the enemy ; after my 

 third shot two were returned without effect, but my next three 

 silenced them ; and this ended the affair. No one was killed on 

 either side, I am glad to say. After order had been restored, for, 

 perhaps, ten minutes or more, I noticed my boat being canted ; this, 

 together with the splashing of water alongside, at once led to the 

 idea that an attempt was being made to board us, and seeing a 

 man wringing wet endeavouring to clamber over the side, there 

 seemed little reason to doubt who he was ; another second, and our 

 old guide would have been no more had he not that very instant 

 given his name. Poor old fellow, fright had suggested this novel 

 idea as the safest mode of retreat during the skirmish. Immedi- 

 ately the first shot had been fired, he jumped into the water and lay 

 alongside that part of the boat furthest from the shore, support- 

 ing himself by one hand on the gunwale. He remained the butt 

 of our party ever since. 



275. Tuesday, 27th January 1874. — At 6 a.m., a dense fog; 

 thermometer, 47°. Still at Nyoungbintha, waiting for Moling 

 Gynet, who had been despatched from Talo across country to a village 

 some twenty miles up the Nantabet choung, where it had been report- 

 ed there were numbers of Ficus elastica growing. It was my inten- 

 tion to have proceeded there by boat ; but on arrival here I found 

 there was not sufficient water. The choung at the mouth, though a 

 hundred and fifty yards wide, merely contains two feet of water. 



