Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1899-04-27
THE MOROS AS FIGHTERS.
OUR PHILIPPINE WARDS THE ORIG
lNAL WILD MEN OF BORNEo.

LlOOQu tl1O bllAO IluSOlldh Mdc VIC
covering the Philippine Islands for
Spain, fierce tribe of head hunters
from Borneo were doing little ex-
ploration on their own account in those
| self-same parts.
There is no jest behind the "wild
| man from Borneo." He is n blood
thirsty fanatic who, as young man,
cannot expect to have girl smile up
on him until he is able to provide her
with at least one human head by way
| OF ante-marital settlement, and the
more heads he has captured the great
er swell he is taken to be. To a nat
ural ferocity, by no means contempti-
BILE, he adds perfect bravery, an over
whelming desire to fight and much
skill in the use of weapons, the whole
cemented by an enthusiastic accept
ance of the faith of Mahomet.
Borneo, it may be explained, lies
south and west of the Philippine ar
chipelago and is of the same geologi-
cal formation, the distinction between
all these islands as far north as For
mosa being an arbitrary and merely
political one. A narrow strait, no
wider than that between many of the
Philippines themselves, is all that
separates Borneo from the Sulu archi
pelago on its north. When Spain
began to extend her territory south
ward from the first settlements made
in Cebu she found that all the small
islands in the Sulu and Tawi Tawi
groups, all of Basilan, Mindanao, the
second largest of the islands, so far
as its coast was concerned, Balabac,
Cayagan, Sulu and the southern third
of Palawan were in Moro hands. 1t
was in the endeavor to re-
duce the whole of this last named
island that the Moro came into con-
tact with the Spaniard, and for several
centuries the Moro had considerably
the best of it.
His career of conquest was checked
so far as the mere acquisition of terri
tory was involved, but he contrived
to fit out marauding expeditions, regu-
swept up the population of adjacent
coasts by the hrndreds The women
mt iate his harem, the men and
'7~~p did his work as slaves This
slaN cry s.ll cont nues in the part Of
the Philippines ubde his -sre. When
Professor Worcester Of the University
of Michigan was exploring tae group
in search of natural history specimens
he was offered a likely young girl
for about SO in American money.
The Moro is not fond OF Christians.
Naturally he detests anybody who
would stand between him and what
he holds to be his legitimate prey,
the milder hammered natives of the
island groups. To that may be added
the bloodthirstiness of the Malay race
with its unpleasant habit of running
amuck and killing every one in reach
of the razor or-edged criss when other
excitement fails. Finally, the faith
of Islam makes the Moro despise
Christians on the one hand, while he
bases his hope of immortality largely
on the number of Christian heads he
will be able to carry to the celestial
gate. One will admit him, but the
more he has the merrier will be his
life throughout all eternity. This, in
his estimation, is worth running risks
for.
For many years Spain occupied
much the same relation to the Moro
that Great Britain held to the mahdi
before Kitchener's victory in upper
1 Egypt OF to the mad mullah at the
present time in Afghasistan. The
!, prevailing feature of the southern
l islands today, architecturally speak
Q ing. in the tall watch tower from which
Q an anxious eye was kept for evidences
Il of the Moros' regular annual outing.
9 These towers formed portion OF
Q heavy stone Notifications, usually
S with the church inside, recalling a
V similar arrangement on the part of the
. Pilg i'm Fathers so far as Indians and
meeting houses were related to theil
g daily life. Up to the introduction Of
8 light draft gunboats armed with ma
8 chine guns the Moro had the better
B. of the Argument, his weapons, though
!, all of home manufacture, being equa
to those of the whites, while he was
better skilled in their use. Even a
the present day he stands in no feal
J of Spanish authority or soldiery, ex
cept in the rare instance where Spair
. has produced a governor with rea
5 administrative ability. Otherwise ht
y hangs around the Spanish settlements
I on the coasts and picks off the strag
u glers with his rife, varying this every
= day recreation by laying ambushes fol
= parties of soldiers and laborers whC
J have to leave the walls and by occa
. sional charges right up to the Spanisl
Q cannon.
u Professor Worcester made the ac
quaintance of the Moro first at th
village of Ell Recodo in Mindanao
q Here they we're said to be disarmeC
= and quite harmless "Moros de paz,
+ in the Spanish phrase. When he cam
Y to the place itself he found essentia
: portions of the Chinese anatomy use'
: for the ornamentation of the Nor,
a dwelling. The householders hat
o wearied of seeing three neighborin
{ Cinnamon about, so they dissecte
them for this decorative purpose, A