122 
VOYAGE OF THE POTOMAC. 
[February, 
can ship big gun ! no have got big gun American ship." One of 
the rajahs, when Mr. Barry was endeavouring to convince him 
that the people, and the great rajah of his country, possessed large 
ships, loaded with nothing but guns, powder, and shot, and having 
hundreds of men on' board, for the purpose of redressing the 
wrongs done to his people abroad, laughed in his face most heartily, 
and replied, that he had spoken a falsehood. Mr. Barry insisted 
that what he had stated was true ; when the rajah again replied, 
that it could not be so. If we had ships which he could not take 
with his sampans and proas, " why had they never been on the 
coast ?" The prevalence of this belief is not to be wondered at. 
American trade on that coast had been carried on for nearly forty 
years, without the shadow of protection from the arm of govern- 
ment ; while other nations, whose trade did not amount to one 
tenth of our own, had sent armed vessels to look after it. 
From the manner in which the Potomac was disguised, and her 
previous distance from the shore, the natives could not, until her 
firing had actually commenced, have formed the most distant idea 
of the tremendous effect of thirty-two pound shot, when discharged 
from a gun of that calibre. ' 
The fort of Tuca de Lama was very soon deserted, while the 
shot was cutting it to pieces, and tearing up whole cocoa-trees 
around it by the roots. 
In performing this service, there was a fine opportunity of ob- 
serving the great proficiency the crews of the guns had made in that 
highly important part of their profession, loading and firing. Though 
the cannonade was brisk and constant for more than half an hour, 
not the most trifling accident occurred, and the shots were directed 
against De Lama's fort with great precision. When silence had 
been commanded, and the firing ceased, the Malays embraced the 
opportunity to exhibit, in conspicuous places along the shore, white 
flags ; that colour being considered among them a signal for 
peace. 
The commodore was pleased to see this movement on their 
part; and, behoving that they would not very soon deny " that the 
Americans had big ships and large guns," directed an answer- 
ing flag of white to be hoisted at the mainmast head, and the 
batteries to be secured. 
It appears that the rajah's of Quallah-Battoo had some diffi- 
