utenant Vincent,
being shot through the body, jumped into the water, to endeavour to swim
to the ship. In a few seconds seventeen men had fallen out of this
devoted band, and the survivors, plunging into the creek, swam down
towards the river. The natives lined the banks in crowds, keeping up a
heavy fire upon the men in the water; and Captain Fletcher and
Lieutenant Strachan, who were the last to leave the shore, only reached
the _Teazer_ by a miracle, they having to swim more than half a mile to
reach her.

As the last of the survivors gained the vessel, the natives, between two
and three thousand in number, lined the banks of the river, brandishing
their weapons and uttering shouts of defiance; and the heads of several
of the killed, horribly mutilated, were held out towards the ship on
spears, amidst cries of exultation. All the ammunition for the
_Teazer's_ guns having already been expended in shelling the town and
clearing the bush, it was impossible to reply to the enemy, and the
vessel proceeded slowly down the river, returning to Sierra Leone next
day.

The casualties of this day were as follows: The 1st West India Regiment,
out of 62 men who landed, lost 38 killed and 3 wounded. The 3rd West
India Regiment, out of 73 men who landed, lost 46 killed and 8 wounded.
Total, 95 killed and wounded, out of a force of 135 men.

The casualties amongst the officers were nearly equally heavy. Out of
the ten Europeans who were under fire, three, namely Lieutenant Wylie,
1st West India Regiment, D.A.C.G. Frith and C.S.M. Scanlan were killed;
and three, Lieutenant Vincent, 2nd West India Regiment,
Lieutenant-Commander Nicolas, and Mr. Dillet, severely wounded.

It was learned afterwards that the reason so large a force was assembled
at Malageah was that it was the time for the annual gathering of the
river tribes, to hear the laws read by the Alimani. This circumstance
ought of course to have been known to the Acting Governor, who was well
acquainted with the customs of the people. The Imperial Government held
him responsible for this defeat, and, in November, 1855, he was relieved
of his post, and charged "with having, when Acting Governor, on the 21st
of May, 1855, without authority, and upon insufficient grounds, sent an
expedition against the Moriah chiefs in the Mellicourie River, beyond
the Colony, with orders to burn or destroy the town of Malageah, planned
without foresight or judgment, disastrous in its terminat