The troops then formed and took up their line of march against the enemy, over a beach of deep and heavy sand.  They had not proceeded far before they were discovered by a native at a distance, who ran at full speed to give the alarm.  A rapid march soon brought them up with the first fort, when a division of men, under the command of Lieut.  Hoff, was detached from the main body, and ordered to surround it.  The first fort was found difficult of access, in consequence of a deep hedge of thorn-bushes and brambles with which it was environed.  The assault was commenced by the pioneers, with their crows and axes, breaking down the gates and forcing a passage.  This was attended with some difficulty, and gave the enemy time for preparation.  They raised their warwhoop, and resisted most manfully, fighting with spears, sabres, and muskets.  They had also a few brass pieces in the fort, but they managed them with so little skill as to produce no effect, for the balls uniformly whizzed over the heads of our men.  The resistance of the Malays was in vain, the fort was stormed, and soon carried; not, however, till almost every individual in it was slain.  Po Mahomet, a chief of much distinction, and who was one of the principal persons concerned in the outrage on the Friendship was here slain; the mother of Chadoolah, another rajah, was also slain here; another woman fell at this port, but her rank was not ascertained; she fought with the spirit of a desperado.  A seaman had just scaled one of the ramparts, when he was severely wounded by a blow received from a weapon in her hands, but her life paid the forfeit of her daring, for she was immediately transfixed by a bayonet in the hands of the person whom she had so severely injured.  His head was wounded by a javelin, his thumb nearly cut off by a sabre, and a ball was shot through his hat.

Lieutenants Edson and Ferret proceeded to the rear of the town, and made a bold attack upon that fort, which, after a spirited resistance on the part of the Malays, surrendered.  Both officers and marines here narrowly escaped with their lives.  One of the natives in the fort had trained his piece in such a manner as to rake their whole body, when he was shot down by a marine while in the very act of applying a match to it.  The cannon was afterwards found to have been filled with bullets.  This fort, like the former, was environed with thick jungle, and great difficulty had been experienced in entering it.  The engagement had now become general, and the alarm universal.  Men, women and children were seen flying in every direction, carrying the few articles they were able to seize in the moments of peril, and some of the men were cut down in the flight.  Several of the enemy’s proas, filled with people, were severely raked by a brisk fire from the six pounder, as they were sailing up the river to the south of the town, and numbers of the natives were killed.  The third and most formidable fort was now attacked,