men rested half an hour with their arms by their sides, than they were summoned to the boats ; and at a little before 11 p.m., the ships having then dropped within two cables' length of the shore, about 400 officers and men, under the immediate command of Captain Cole, pushed off from the Caroline, shaping their course towards the east point of Great Banda. It is doubt doubtful if there were quite so many as 400 men ; for some of the soldiers intended to be of the party were left on board the Caroline for want of room in the boats, and the launch of the Piémontaise, in the dark and tempestuous weather which prevailed, went adrift with only half her allotted number.

The badness of the weather, and the increased darkness of the night, made it next to impossible for the boats to keep together ; and, by 3 a.m. on the 9th, none of the party had assembled at the point of rendezvous, except Captains Cole and Kenah, in their respective gigs. About this time the three ships suddenly made their appearance within 100 yards of the two gigs ; and Captain Cole, on going alongside the Piémontaise, had the satisfaction to learn from Captain Foote, that he had passed some of the boats at a short distance astern. Pulling in that direction, Captain Cole soon met a portion of his boats ; and, receiving from the men in them the most animated assurances of support, he resolved to make the attack, without waiting for the remainder of the party. This was a measure the more necessary, as the boats had still to pull three miles to the point of disembarkation ; and that darkness, on which their success rested, was fast disappearing before the grey tints of the morning. The commencing twilight now discovered the shore of an island, known to be Banda-Neira ; and the two large fires, blazing near the north point of it, indicated that the Dutch, as Captain Cole had judged would be the case, were collected there, in expectation that the attack, for which the two signal guns at Rosensgen had prepared them, would be made on the same spot on which Admiral Rainier's forces had formerly landed.

The group of islands, of which Banda-Neira is the capital, are 10 in number ; six of which are named, Lontor, or Great Banda, Goonong-Api, Rosensgen, Pulo-Ay, and Pulo-Rhun. Banda-Neira is about two miles long and about three quarters of a mile wide ; is extremely mountainous, and contains many excellent positions for repelling an invading force. At the time in question it possessed 10 sea-batteries, exclusive of Casteel-Belgica and Casteel-Nassau. The first of these castles, mounting 52 pieces of heavy cannon, commanded the other, as well as all the sea-defences at that extremity of the island, and was deemed, by the Dutch at least, an impregnable fortress ; and the whole number of guns mounted for the defence of the island was 138. The garrison of Banda-Neira, as we shall by and by satisfactorily show, amounted to 700 regular troops, and at least 800 militia ; making a total of 1500 men. The party,

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