1 62 
THE ISLAND OF CEYLON. 
to be with his ship at Timar, one of the Spice Islands which 
we have lately conquered, he was invited, along with his offi- 
cers, by the Dutch Governor to an entertainment. Some cir- 
cumstances prevented the Captain from accepting the invita- 
tion: his officers however went, and found with astonishment 
and horror, that the Dutch had made hospitality a pretext to 
obtain an opportunity of assassinating them. They were set 
upon without the least warning, and the first lieutenant and 
one or two more infamously murdered with some Sepoys who 
attempted to defend their officers. The surgeon, however, 
who was a very strong man, with the assistance of a couple 
of Sepoys fought his way to the beach, and made good his 
retreat to the ship. Upon the surgeon’s representing this 
barbarous conduct of the Dutch, Captain Packenham in- 
stantly gave orders to fire upon the town, and it was in con- 
sequence soon reduced to ashes. The Dutch inhabitants, and 
all those who were concerned in the massacre, fled precipi- 
tately into the interior of the island. Several of the perpe- 
trators of the crime were afterwards taken, and suffered for 
their treachery. 
In the same year, an unfortunate affair took place at 
Amboyna, where the Malays murdered Lieutenant M’Crae 
of the Company’s service, who happened to be quartered 
there ; and several more of the English officers would have 
shared his fate, had they not been rescued by the troops. I 
will not take upon me to say how far the Dutch were 
implicated in the crime; but from their usual policy, and 
