92 FIRST SIGHT NOT CHEERFUL. 



and rain, and nearly every one down with fever. The Rajah 

 Brooke was very ill with it, and of the thirty marines five had 

 died, twenty were in hospital, and five only fit for duty. The 

 site of the settlement was on a low swampy flat, a miserable 

 looking spot with a few wretched temporary huts. It was 

 arranged that my detachment was not to be located in this 

 feverish place ; some ground on a higher level about two and 

 a half miles from the settlement had been partly cleared, and 

 temporary barracks were being prepared ; they were to have 

 been ready on our arrival, but were not half finished. For 

 the first day or two I took the detachment on shore during 

 the day and returned to the ship in the evening. There was 

 no landing place, and as my men were in uniform some of 

 the sailors had to carry them "pick-a-back" to the shore. 

 The sailors were up to all kinds of larks. One would 

 stumble forward sending poor Jack Sepoy sprawling into the 

 sea. Another would fall backwards and nearly drown the 

 unfortunate man on his back. I found this would not do, so 

 I remained on shore and packed as many men as I could into 

 the only hut available, and the remainder I put on duty. In 

 a day or two we got things more comfortable, although the 

 men grumbled much, as we had to work in constant rain, 

 which made the ground a muddy swamp ; but a Malay pirate 

 had sent me word that he was coming with seven hundred 

 men to cut our throats, and although he never came, I was 

 obliged to be prepared for him. 



Whilst making a road to the new barracks, we had 

 a very narrow escape from a serious catastrophe. A 

 number of fine casuarina trees grew round the barracks, 

 these trees have long needle-like spines which fall to the 

 ground in great profusion and cover the surface in some 



