Page 287 - Malay sketches

NAKODAR ORLONG

It is not my intention to detail the subsequent
events except in so far as is necessary for a right
understanding of an incident connected with the
death of a man called Nakodah Orlong, a Sumatran
Malay.
With the force at our disposal, which included
Lieut. Abbott, R.N., his four bluejackets, and
about fifty so-called Sikhs, it was determined to
attack Pasir Salak before the Maharaja Lela had
time to collect a large following. An immediate
advance was also considered advisable to
prevent
the number of our enemies being increased by what
might look like our indecision. With Easterns, to sit
still and stockade your position is probably, under
such circumstances, the worst course possible.
We knew that the Maharaja Lela was throwing
up works, not only in his village, but outside of it,
and to force them it was decided to take two
howitzers and a rocket-tube.
The distance from Bandar Bharu to Pasir Salak
was five miles, every yard of it covered with
of some the road a narrow
vegetation sort, only
path by the river-bank ; moreover, Pasir Salak was
not on our side of the river. It was, therefore,
settled that we should start at daylight the next
morning, the /th November, in boats, that we
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