77
in
that neighbourhood after having destroyed two Portuguese lorchas at the port of Lamyt, belonging to Macao.
this
we were informed that they
the
off
were
piratical village of Pootou (formerly described to me by Leew as a nest of pirates) and having arrived at the latter in a fog
we found
one
large and two
small junks hauled up behind
a rock near some 20 fishing boats.
Lew landed and brought off two of the Elders of the village who admitted that half the villagers lived by piracy and the rest by fishing, that the large junk
a prize considered too clumsy
was
301
for piratical service and that those we were in quest of were cruising in the Formosa Channel. Lew requested me to burn the junk but before it could be done the fog suddenly cleared and two junks
were observed
standing into the bay which the Elders confessed to belong to this
Junk
but
they lacked wind and
seeing us chased but making
the crews landed before
for the
the shore
we could
come up and ran over the hills towards Pootou. The junks shewed ample evidence of piratical character; to a stranger they appeared ordinary traders but the gunwales were made to unship, leaving ports 15 feet