asons, which, after all, are poor and weak when
we determine on doing anything, be it right or be it wrong. _If_ evil
befall, I trust the penalty may be on me rather than on my followers.

"_22d._--At daylight the fleet was astir; and in an hour the defences
were cut down, the timber, bamboos, &c., formed into rafts ready for
transportation, and the stockade, by breakfast-time, had as completely
vanished as though it had been bodily lifted away by some genius of the
Wonderful Lamp. Everything was ready for a start, and we waited lazily
for the flood-tide; but when it did make, the usual procrastination
ensued, and there was no move till it was near done. Then, indeed,
we proceeded up about two-thirds of the way, and brought up with two
good hours' daylight, in spite of my remonstrances. No place could
be better calculated than where we rested for an attack upon boats:
high banks covered with grass and trees offered a safe shelter for
musketry, against which no return could be made. The night, however,
passed away quietly.

"_24th._--Dawn found us on the advance to our proper position. A thick
fog concealed us, and in half an hour the people were on shore busy
reerecting our fort, less than a mile from two forts of the enemy,
but concealed from them by a point of the river. No opposition was
offered to us; and in a few hours a neat defence was completed from
the _debris_ of the former. The ground was cleared of jungle; piles
driven in a square, about fifteen yards to each face; and the earth
from the center, scooped out and intermixed with layers of reeds, was
heaped up about five feet high inside the piles. At the four corners
were small watch-towers, and along the parapet of earth a narrow
walk connecting them. In the center space was a house crowded by the
Chinese garrison, a few of whose harmless gingalls were stuck up at
the angles to intimidate rather than to wound. While they labored at
the body of the defence, the Dyaks surrounded it by an outer work,
made of slight sticks run into the ground with cross binding of
split bamboo, and bristling with a _chevaux de frise_ (if it may be
so styled) of sharpened bamboos about breast-high. The fastenings
of the entire work were of rattan, which is found in plenty. It was
commenced at 7 A.M. and finished about 3 P.M., showing how the fellows
can get through business when they choose. This stockade, varying
in strength according to circumstances, is the usual defence of th