on the ground; great numbers afterwards died of their wounds in the jungle; 38 pieces of artillery, 40 swivels, and 300 muskets were captured; – a loss of no small importance where fire-arms were so scarce. Soomba Wongee (second minister of the empire), a Woondock, and two other chiefs of the first class, were found among the slain; and the surviving troops, deprived of their leaders, either dispersed, or fled in confusion to the rear, there to await the arrival of the King’s favorite brother, the Prince of Sarrawaddy, said to be advancing with 70,000 men. The loss on the part of the British was comparatively very small – four rank and file killed; one captain, 35 soldiers, and 11 sailors wounded. The subjoined is a copy of an official letter from the commander-in-chief to Captain Marryat, dated July 9th, 1824:
“Sir,– I request you will accept my very best thanks for your able arrangement and disposition of the vessels employed in the attack of the enemy’s stockades yesterday; and I beg you will also do me the favor of conveying them to Lieutenant Fraser, R.N. Captain Hardy, and the officers in command of the Honorable Company’s cruisers Thetis and Jessey.
“I had the greatest satisfaction in observing the general good conduct of the row-boats and the boats of the transports; they carried the troops up to the assault in very handsome style, and Captain O’Brien, of the Moira, was the first man who leapt on shore, and entered the breach with the foremost of the troops. I am, &c.
On the arrival of Sir Archibald’s despatches at Fort William, the secretary to government addressed him thus:
“The Governor-General in Council unites with you in regretting, that the severe indisposition of Captain Marryat, the senior naval officer, prevented his witnessing the successful result of his judicious arrangements on the occasion alluded to. You will be pleased to assure Captain Marryat, that his Lordship in Council entertains the highest sense of his valuable services, and will not fail to bring them under the notice of his Excellency Commodore Grant.”
On the 11th July, Captain Marryat wrote to the Commodore as follows:
