636 



J A V A. 



JAY*. 



Critical si- 

 i nation of 

 th patty. 



Fort and 

 batteries 

 secured. 



Deposition 

 of thecul- 



whose weapons steeped in poison, gleamed by the light 

 of the torches. Huge battlements with massy gates, 

 loading from one area to another, received the party, 

 presenting the frightful spectacle of human blood still 

 flowing and reeking on the pavement. The gates 

 closed on its rear, and the blood-stained court-yards 

 through which it was conducted, appeared as the pas- 

 sage to a slaughter-house. A Malay who approached 

 the colonel through the crowd, while walking by his 

 side, had a large double-edged knife secretly conveyed 

 to him by one of his countrymen. At the moment, a 

 flash of lightning darting through the tempest of the 

 night, disclosed the weapon, while the assassin was 

 endeavouring to conceal it in his sleeve. The colonel's 

 eye caught the object, and regardless of the crowd, he 

 ordered the Malay to be seized, and thus frustrated by 

 his firmness of mind the murderous design. The wea- 

 pon was found, but the Malay escaped. On arriving at 

 the palace, a more dreadful picture of devastation and 

 outrage was displayed. Here rapine and murder had 

 gone hand in hand. Vivid flashes of lightning and peals 

 of thunder conspired with the glare of the conflagra- 

 tion to give a peculiar character of awe to the scenes 

 which caught the sight. The flames, which devoured 

 every thing around, in spite of the rain which fell in 

 torrents, threatened the spot where the band had 

 sought a temporary shelter. The crackling of bam- 

 boos, the falling in of burning roofs with tremendous 

 crashes, and the near approach of the flames amidst a 

 hostile multitude and desperate assassins, gave to the 

 situation of the party a most appalling prospect. An 

 arduous task yet remained, to secure possession of the 

 fort; and to perform this, the party was prepared to 

 sell their lives as dear as possible, should an attack be 

 made before the arrival of a reinforcement. The inte- 

 rior of the palace being carefully examined by torch 

 light, all the entrances but one were barricaded. At 

 this the grenadiers were stationed, and the strictest 

 watch maintained. Soon after midnight, the party had 

 the satisfaction of hailing the arrival of Major Trench 

 with 60 men of the 8pth regiment ; and the remain- 

 der of the force under Colonel Macleod joined the little 

 garrison early the next morning. Thus, by an act of 

 unparalleled intrepidity, 17 British grenadiers, and the 

 crews of two boats, with the officers above mentioned, 

 were put in possession of a fort and batteries, mounting 

 242 pieces of cannon, without the loss of a man. A 

 position which, by any other species of attack, must 

 have risked the safety of the armament. The celerity 

 of the movement, and the sudden arrival of the few 

 British, whose numbers the panic of the enemy had 

 magnified, caused the dispersion of the sultan's adhe- 

 rents, the prevention of their murderous project, and 

 the relief of the town from the horrors of pillage. An 

 American, in charge of a Chinese junk at Palimbang, 

 gave a dismal recital of the storm about to burst that 

 night, and which the interposition of the British had 

 averted. This junk was marked as the first victim of 

 its fury. The solemn deposition of the guilty sultan, 

 by Colonel Gillespie, took place to the great joy of the 

 people, and his brother was proclaimed in his stead. 



Java. 



The object of the expedition being thus happily termi- 

 nated, the force, with the exception of a garrison left 

 behind, repaired to Samarang, where a fresh field for 

 British valour was open in the heart of Java. 



The sultan of Mataram or Djoejoecarta, who had been 

 intriguing the downfal of his last masters, still continu- 

 ed disposed to dispute the possession of Java with the 

 British. The new Lieut-Governor Raffles, and Colo- 

 nel Gillespie, now commander of the forces in Java, re- 

 paired to Djoejoecarta, the sultan's capital, and after Sultan of 

 trying in vain to settle matters amicably, prepared for Djoejuecar- 

 hostilities. The residence of the sultan, or Crattan, ta in arnis - 

 as it is called; is about three miles in circumference, sur- 

 rounded by a broad wet ditch, with draw bridges, a 

 strong high rampart with bastions, and defended by 100 

 pieces of cannon. In the interior are numerous squares 

 and courts all strong and defensible; 17,000 regular 

 troops manned the works, and an armed population of 

 100,000 men occupied the country for many miles 

 round. The Dutch fort, within 800 yards of the Crat- 

 tan, was calculated for little else than a military de- 

 pot, and the fire from it was only intended to amuse 

 the enemy while the force was concentrating. At 

 length the troops having arrived, formidable from their 

 intrepidity, not from their numbers, they were order- 

 ed into the fort, preparatory to the attack of the ene- 

 my's strong-hold. It was determined to carry the for- 

 tifications by assault, as the most prompt way of redu- 

 cing the place, and of giving security to the colonies, 

 threatened by the irruption of armed thousands at Ban- 

 tam, Cheribon, Sourabaya, and other places, on the 

 first signal. The different attacks being arranged by Co- 

 lonel Gillespie, the works were escaladed, and carried 

 with irresistible impetuosity. The troops were anima- 

 ted to heroic exertion by the cry of " death or victory" 

 resounding through the ranks. In many places the 

 enemy were dispersed by their own guns turned upon 

 them. The sultan was compelled to surrender himself Djoejoecar- 

 a prisoner, the cavalry and horse artillery being posted ta taken ^ 

 so as to intercept the fugitives. Hostilities having assaulu 

 now ceased, the island of Java was restored to tranquil- 

 lity and order, and has, we believe, been recently given 

 over to the king of the Netherlands. See Stockdale's 

 Sketches of Java; Sir George Staunton's Account of the 

 Embassy to China ; Barrow's Voyage to Cochinchina ; 

 Thunberg's Travels; Hamilton's East India Gazetteer; 

 Baptist Missionary Periodical Arcounts, No. xxvi. ; 

 Thorn's Account of the Capture of Java; and Brande's 

 Journal of the Arts and Sciences. 



ICE is a transparent crystallised substance formed by 

 the congelation of water when reduced to a tempera- 

 ture below 32 of Fahrenheit. As ice is generally pro- Crystals f 

 duced by a very rapid congelation, it commonly occurs ice> 

 in an aggregated mass of separate crystals, the axes of 

 which are turned in different directions. Under fa- 

 vourable circumstances, however, where the process of 

 congelation has been slow, and the water exposed to no 

 agitation, perfect crystals of ice are sometimes formed, 

 M. Hassenfratz, M.Hericaut de Thury,* and Mr Scores- 

 by, have observed crystals of ice that had the form of 

 regular hexahedral prisms; and Home de Lisle, M. 



" M. Hericaut de Thury observed the crystals of ice in the subterraneous glacier of Fondeurle, about two leagues to the east 

 of Valence. The whole of the floor of the cavern was composed of hexahedral prisms of the most perfect transparency, of which the 

 terminal surface presented strise parallel to the faces of the prism, while the crystals which were found within the hollow stalactitic.il 

 masses of ice, were partly triangular prisms, and partly heiahedral prisms ; some of which were also striated on the terminal faces, and 

 presented facets which replaced the terminal edges at the junction of the base and the prism. He was not able, however, to find any 

 crystals with a complete pyramid. 



