86 SKIRMISH. [1846. 



rounded the west point of Ylin, and came upon the vicinity 

 of the village of that name, situated in an open bay facing 

 the north-west. I was then pulling to a station on that 

 side of the channel, when a party of natives showed 

 themselves on the brow of the hill, and shot an arrow at 

 me, which missed. At this time I was unarmed, and in a 

 light extra gig used for landing over the reefs ; some delay 

 ensued before my own gig came up, when the assailants 

 were chased, and made good their retreat somewhat 

 diminished in valour, after one or two ringing shots 

 marked the branches in the direction in which they had 

 fled. To prevent further accident, I pulled immediately 

 to their town, and giving them to understand that any 

 repetition of such pranks would meet with severe punish- 

 ment to the community, measures were taken by the 

 Alcalde for preventing it. The chief spokesman, although 

 not the Alcalde, seemed to possess great influence over 

 the village, and from the general tenor of his conversa- 

 tion and questions I shall not, perhaps, err very widely 

 in assuming that he is connected with the pirates. He 

 was a complete pilot for all the creeks and ports from 

 Manila to Samboanga, and the pirate haunts as far as 

 Sooloo. He was acquainted with several merchants at 

 Manila, but from his intimate knowledge of all the pirate 

 haunts and practices, he must have been in closer contact 

 than the gun-boat crews to which he intimated that he 

 formerly belonged. 



We found a most excellent run of water, but difficult 

 to embark, owing to the shore being dry at least 200 

 yards from the mouth of the stream, and the tide only 

 admitting our heavy boats at high water. A very snug 



