Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1899-12-28
ODD CUSTOMS or THE MOROS,

and political problems OF the archi-
pelago In this investigation he was
greatly assisted by young German
named Schuck, who has lived among
the Moros for many years. 1t may be
timely to mention something i'll con-
nection with Mr.. Schuck's history. for
it certainly is an interesting one. Many
years ago, Capt. Schuck, q German sea
captain, Piled his ship in tho East |
Indian waters aid became famous |
among the natives of these Southern |
islands. His children were brought |
up in the Sulus and in Borneo, and as
they grew older they were Sent to Ger
man universities. The old captain |
died. and the children, as popular now
rs no had boon, have been trading
ever since among the islands. Young
Sehnck, whom tho natives cali ''Tuan
Eddie" is known all through the
arch ipelago. He has married n Moro
woman and has almost hecome part OF
this Moro people. lie speaks the Moro
and Tagalo dialects, rs well as Malay,
Spanish, German, Dutch and excellent
English. He knows more about the
Suus than any other white man, and
in Gen. Bates subsequent inyestiga
tions no proved to BIO of most willing
and intelligent assistance as an adviser
and interpreter.
Regarding the political conditions
tho general found the following to be
true: Tho Sultan, Hadii Mohammed
| Jamalol Hiram, is the head of the
| Moros, and has dominion over the
Sulu group, aud is also the spiritual
leader OF the sultanntes of Mindanao
and North Borneo. He lives in
| NAHUM. on the southeastern shore Of
Sulu Island, where he has so. called
| palace, harem of some extent, and
neing a man OF weak character is
| largely under the influence of tho Sui
/ tana and the Hadiis, who have tiocked
around him.
lie has tacitly acknowledged the
sovereignty OF Spain over all the
! islands but as Spain never spread be-
You'd three or fohr point, sovereignty
means little. The terms of the treaty
of 1855, between England, Germany
ana spain. alIowed spain to collect
tariffs Mt place efIectually occupied by
Spain. provided Spain have officials
snociallv appointed, and provided that
six months notice be given of the es
Establishment OF the port.
next IN power to the Sultan is the
council of mobiles, or dattos, one of
whom is stationed in each of the more
important districts of the archipelago,
to govern his own particular district
aud to be, in measure the reprcsen-
tative of the Sultan.
These dattos are practically supreme
in their power in their own districts,
for there Is apparently no organization
between themselves and the Sultan
which indicates any cohesion or CO.
operation. Every datto runs things to
suit himself. He is the Judge who
tries the malefactors, and thore is nc
appeal from his decision. A scale Of
penalties is arranged, hGwerer, which is
, general over the islands, SO that any
pai ticular crime is punishable by Il
liked penalty. The number of dattos
: is great, there being many throughout
|, the archipelago, although the really
powerful ones are few. On tho Islant
! of Sulu there are -four great dattos =
the Paduka Raja Muda, the Faduka
Datto Attik, the Paduka Datto KALI
and the Paduka Datto Jokanipe. Date
Kalhi and Datto Jokanine are the mos
. powerful. and they head a rival party
a which hopes to dethione the presen
Sultan and scat as his SUCCESSOR, tn,
Datto KalEi. There is fierce hostilit,
d between these two PARTIES, the Sultan
s and Jokanine's, and while was il
: Sulu there was persistent rumor tina
e Jokanine was to lead his follower
I across to NAHUM and attack the palace
: Datto Jokanine is the cleverest ant
i most forceful Of all the Sulus. Hi
a mon are well armed and he has fol
It lowing almost as great as the Sutal
t, has. kalki is>his elder brother and il
It in line for sultanship, but Jokanine
the younger, is really the more aggres
:. sive and clever of the two.
To the nortnward the greatest of tn
dattos is Mandi, who is the big leade
Of the Moros in Mindanao. His terri
n tory includes $50 miles of coast lin
n, and his followers number over 20,00C
5. He is not subject to the Sultan eXcer
,e in religious sense, and in the even
m of tribal war between the Sultan an
ct Datto Jolsanine he would probably &c
m take sides. On Basian the most in
he tuentia datto Is Pedro Cuevas, and
lie man of great character and power. II
he was sent by Spain, great many veal
&, ago, as a convict to the Souther
er islands, and while not Moro has b,
n come n Moro leader.
p To tho south of Suu tho chief date
tn are rnuse Oh the island of LuKus, Sias
IT. and Tawi Tawi. Siassi, next to Jol,
ly is the most important of the SUI
m group, while Tawi.Tawi comes thirt
I'M ny nature the Moro is pirate, an
n as far back as history goes tho nati'
a Of the Sulus was II recognized Eira
on and the Sulu Sea terror to mariner
ly Tho Moros preyed on all the wor
to outside theiI own people, and the pu
If, suit was considered among them to
proper and legitimate. Consequent
one can hardly expect to find We
~, thorough code of laws among them.
-, arrangement existed between Spa
ana inc sultan whereby the form
~ should pay an annuity OF 81, 400 Me,
", w. cam to the Sultan, and annuties ran
~ ing from Sl5 to 5l00 Mexican 10 +
.na dattos and advisers. The British Nor
VI, W Borneo Co. paid tho Sultan 90, 00C
'S' year. These amounts were paid
Eribes or tributes to preserve peace a
quiet, and were, in my judgmer
thoroughly commendable, although
the arrangement is continued by I
United States the expenditure W
\ probably be put in the budget 81
services rendered., :" to escape the acc
sation of bribery. 1t was n good I
"A rangement, for a bagful of dobe dolli
Il carries infinitely more weight with
\ thI fifty savage than q thousand asst
apces of benevolent assimilation. "
will SAFE scores OF lives and hundrt
of thousands of dollars, make the nat
= contented and happy, and insure 10
~ ing peace. The religion of the poo
of the archipelago is Moinammedi
III Pagan and Christian. Nearly all
Moros are devout Mohammednps, q
thia faith ,p,v o Falp ha 60 ia ~, innl,