186 



seventy privates principally composed of the light 

 company, and nine of the moi^i severely wound- 

 ed out of a total of nearly seventy. This party, 

 by puriiuinfj a liypath, reached Malacca uxidis- 

 covered. Ensign Futher^U was directed to re- 

 main in advance. 



On the 22d, 23d, and 24tli. the firing from diflfer* 

 ent jiujai batteries had become more annoying. 

 One was silenced by tlie guns, and several others 

 destroyed by tallies of infautry, the enemy evacu* 

 ating them with precipitancy on the approach 

 of the iroopsf. Several houses in the vicinity, which 

 affuitled cover to the Malays, v^ere also fired 

 by gmall detachments, the enemy never wait- 

 ing for the bayonet. It was therefore evident 

 that, had the troops been in possession of carriage 

 and able lo aflTord a chain of posts in its rear, ihey 

 could, even at this period, after being, in a man* 

 ner, hemmed in for a fiji inigiit, have traversed 

 the country in any direction passable for infantry 

 and driven the Malays from every poijit^on. 



Whilst the detachment was thus maintaining its 

 ground, measures were in progress for its release 

 from its situation, and Syed Sabban was induced 

 to wiilidraw with his adherents and engage not 

 to obstruct the retreat pf the troops, by a promise 

 of receiving from Government the sum of five 

 hundred dollars. 



At one o'clock in the morning of the 24th 

 Lientenant Hurlock of the 29th reached Sooogei 

 Pattye with a re-inforcement of forty men, and 

 bearing imperative orders for the return of the 

 whole to Malacca, The guna were directed to 

 be destroyed if they could not be brought on, but 

 little opposition was expected since the with- 



