Page:Twenty years before the mast - Charles Erskine, 1896.djvu/282

 distress. They came down upon us in several of their prows at full speed, and armed with their cuirasses and  spears. Our boats at once closed together. The pirates came alongside of us, but, having no fire-arms, and seeing  that we were numerous and well armed, they sneakingly  hauled off again, and had the impudence to hoist a  white flag in token of peace. Their retreat was hastened by a shot from our ship, which had just rounded a point  a mile to windward, and thus signaled for our return. I never have seen such a bloodthirsty set of thieves and pirates as were these Malays.

On the 18th, at midnight, we made Pulo Aor and Pulo Pedaang. We came to until daylight, when we found ourselves close alongside a large Chinese junk. After breakfast we weighed anchor, but, the wind being light, we did not reach Singapore Roads until the next  day, when, in the afternoon, we came to anchor opposite  the town. Here we found the flags of all nations fluttering in the breeze, from the mizzen peak of the stately Indiaman, and the bamboo yards of the huge Chinese  junk. Many of these flags some of us now beheld for the first time.

Among the shipping found here, we saw American, English, French, Russian, Spanish, Turkish, Greek, and  Siamese vessels, Dutch galiots, built out of teak, Baltimore clippers, long, low, rakish brigs and schooners,  opium smugglers, Chinese junks with a large eye on each  bow so that they might see the Malay prows, prahus,  bumboats, and numerous odd-looking boats, called  sampans.

Our ship was soon surrounded by a fleet of bumboats