two men. At Muka, which they reached next day, they captured four Chinese and two Melanaus, and the next night they brought up off Bintulu.[276] The following day was a fatal day for the pirates, for in the morning a steamer (the _Rainbow_) came out of Bintulu accompanied by a pinnace (the _Jolly Bachelor_). There was a pirate prahu lying close in shore and upon her the steamer immediately fired; twice the steamer fired and then the prahu's crew ran her into shoal water, she was followed and attacked by the pinnace, and her crew then escaped ashore, but were all killed by men from Bintulu and Miri. The steamer then attacked another prahu—and after firing into her twice rammed and sank her. Her crew were all drowned, killed, or captured, and the captives, about twenty in number, escaped on board the steamer. A similar fate overtook a third prahu, all her crew perishing, and her captives, about twenty-five in number, were rescued by the steamer. The steamer then gave chase to the three prahus in the offing and overtook them. These three prahus were lashed together, but separated after being fired into. A short engagement ensued, which resulted in all three of the prahus being sunk, and their crews being killed or captured. Twenty-one captives were rescued from their prahus. And thus were the pirates destroyed off Bintulu by the Rajah of Sarawak's steamer the _Rainbow_. Moreover it is estimated that the pirates lost forty men killed, and the steamer lost but one man killed and one wounded. And thus Nakoda Amzah and three of his men were rescued, and reached Kuching in safety. The remaining six were taken away in the other five prahus that sailed to Belitong and Bangka, and were probably taken by their captors to Sulu during the month of Haji. Written in Kuching on Friday the 6th day of Dulkaidah, 1278 of the Hejira (A.D. 1862). This was a lesson the pirates never forgot. From one of their prahus nineteen men escaped in a fast boat to carry the tale back with them, soon to spread to all the pirate haunts. Only once since, some seven years later, did the pirates venture down to the Sarawak coast, and then in no great force. They were attacked in Kedurong bay, and slain to a man by the Bintulu people led by their own chiefs. No more pirates were seen on the Sarawak coast afterwards. The next year a squadron of steamers was sent from China to attack and root out all these pirates; but they came for no end except to sport their bunting, for nothing was effected. They could have had no intelligence officer with them with a knowledge of the positions of the piratical strongholds, and acquainted with the languages, habits, and appearance of the inhabitants of the northern coast of Borneo and the Sulu archipelago.