'220 _ VOYAGE OF THE POTOMAC. [February 
on board, and had the well-armed Malays resolutely sprang among 
them, nothing could have saved the vessel. The captain after- 
ward ascertained to a certainty, that the intended assailants were 
well prepared with loaded blunderbusses, concealed in the hold, 
of which fact they openly boasted at Quallah-Battoo, and ex- 
pressed the bitterest chagrin at failing in the avowed object of 
their expedition. 
The leader of this lawless gang, whose name is Mattavee, 
afterward armed a proa, and commenced a system of piracy 
against his own countrymen. Indeed, the instances of their 
piracy on each other are very common ; and they often display as 
much treachery in their intercourse with each other, as they ex- 
ercise towards strangers. Every Achenese who has the means, 
resides in a fort, with swivels pointed out of the room in which 
he sleeps, and guns mounted over the gate, which is seldom 
opened, a small hole being cut in it, just sufficiently large to admit 
one man at a time. Though always armed, a single man rarely 
ventures to pass from one village to another, particularly in the 
night. In one word, such a thing as mutual confidence does not 
exist among them. ' , . 
Every advantage which accident or the misfortune of a ship- 
master may give these people, is sure to be improved in extorting 
money from him ; and often without the least shadow of justice, 
as the following incident will show. 
The master of an American vessel, who took in a part of his 
cargo at Muckie, had promised, on certain conditions, to give the 
chief fifty dollars. Something, however, occurring to prevent the 
latter fulfilling his part of the contract, it was mutually agreed 
between them that the promise of the captain was null and void, 
and that the chief had no claim upon him. Nothing further was 
said on the subject until the vessel had completed her loading, 
when the captain was decoyed into a room on shore by several 
Achenese, where the chief before mentioned advanced with a 
drawn hris, and demanded of him fifty dollars ! 
The captain reminded him of their mutual arrangement on 
this subject, and the clear understanding that the money was not to 
be paid ; and that there were witnesses present who could testify to 
the fact. The chief replied, that the captain had met with a gi-eat 
misfortune in losing his memory, and that the money must and 
