We had sailed on quietly for several hours, and had made the Kumsing-moon Passage,--which, together with the neighboring islands, was formerly fearfully infested with pirates,--when, in consequence of an accident happening to our machinery, we were compelled to lie to and anchor for several hours. Soon after the vessel had stopped, Mr. Perry,--our Consul at Canton, and Mr. G----, both of whom were passengers,--discovered that the boat was on fire. At about the same time, and before the extent of the fire could be ascertained, a number of Chinese boats were seen to be bearing down upon us. We then began to fear that our engineers and firemen,--who were Chinamen,--might be in collusion with these boatmen, and that they possibly intended to take and plunder the vessel, in which case they would also capture the foreign passengers, and (as is their custom) keep us in durance until they received an exorbitant ransom. After the fire was subdued, it was two or three hours before we could get up steam sufficient to proceed on our voyage; but as soon as there was any likelihood of our doing so the native boats disappeared. This accident occurred just as it was announced to the passengers that _tiffin_ was ready; and to Mr. Perry--who refused to go below to partake of it, until he could learn the nature and extent of the difficulty--we were providentially indebted for our safety. If there was any compact between the Chinese employées and the boatmen, it was thought that some signal must have been given the latter, indicating that there were too many armed foreigners and Malays on board to admit of their meeting with any success. In fine, whatever may have been the true state of the case, we learned, after reaching Macao, that we had strangely escaped the danger of steam as well as fire; it being then discovered that the boilers of our vessel had been so much burned as to be ruined, and that we had been mercifully preserved not only from apparent but from real perils.