On inquiry we found that when the Lanun fleets came down this coast, they had numerous places where they received a hearty welcome, among others at Sadong: the Sibuyaus were employed by them to row their boats under a promise of receiving the heads of all the slain, and a very small share of the plunder. Many of those present had been out with the pirates along the coasts of Cochin China, Cambodia, Siam, and down the Malay Peninsula as far as Singapore. But the tables were subsequently turned, and the Lanuns preyed on their former allies. After our attack on Tungku, a man came off to us, and proved to be a captive taken at Sadong, but he evidently did not dislike his present position, as he went ashore again under the pretence of collecting other fugitives, and we saw no more of him; most probably he had married in the country. I have often heard the natives speak of a captain of an English man-of-war, named Morris, who committed suicide after an unsuccessful attack on the Lanun pirates at Sambas, about the year 1812, but I have never been able to verify the story. Steamers, however, are beginning to disgust them with the life, and if a little combined and active effort were made by our steam gunboats, in conjunction with those of the Dutch and Spaniards, piracy might be effectually suppressed. Traders who were accustomed to the Sulu seas used to speak of the little island of Sarañgani, off the coast of Magindanau, as a mart where the pirates assembled to sell the captured slaves to those traders who frequented that port, and the latter were generally from Sulu, though occasionally a few Bagis prahus came in to purchase the women and children, but it is possible that many changes have since taken place. I have before observed that Sulu was a great slave mart, and that pirates and slave-dealers of every kind were accustomed to resort there: it is not surprising, therefore, that the Spaniards should organize an attack upon it, but it was unfortunate that this attack should take place immediately after the sultan of Sulu had signed a treaty with the English, and I have little doubt that the object could have been better effected by a regular surveillance. But the Spanish authorities thought differently, and early in 1851 they sent to make demands on the sultan, and on these not being immediately complied with, the men-of-war opened fire upon the town, which was promptly replied to by the shore batteries. I saw a letter from the sultan of Sulu, recounting this engagement. He said that after “an awful cannonading, by the blessing of God we disabled two of their vessels, and they retired.”