Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1902-09-20
FAIRY STORY FROM PHILIPPINES.
Teacher Claims Moros Are Lost
Tribe of Israel.

II believe" said Robert Curran, as
he sat in the union depot yesterday,
waiting for a train, to a reporter for
the Denver News, that I have discov-
cred one of the lost ten tribes of Is
rael." Mr.. Curran was talking to a
friend at the time, but the eavesdrop-
per, who takes a great deal of inter-
est In the lost ten tribes, could not re-
strain his curisosity, and broke into
the conversation with an abrupt
Where? Do tell me where" Mr.. Cur
ran evinced some establishment at the
interruptions; but on being told that 1t
was customary in this part Of the coun-
try to acquire information at whatever
cost, became resigned to his fate.
II. Of course. don't really know that
I have made this discovery" said Mr..
Curran, who is returning to his home
in Natchez. Miss. from the Philippines.
where he has been instructing the little
brown children in the three "r's" at the
expense Of the government, "but think
that in the tribe Of Moros living near
Bacolor, in Mindanao, the sultan of
whom has lately been very saucy, a
deliver into musty history Of past and
forgotten people will find from their
customs that the Moros, now Moham-
medans Of the worst type. were once
far back in forgotten ages ornamented
with the facial appearance now to be
seen in the descendants Of the two
tribes which did not get lost.
my reasons for thinking so are nu-
merous, but perhaps the strongest is
that they believe in the Jewish rite OF
circumcision and hold no man friend
or brother who does not. Another thing
is that they most cordially hate and
despise the Americans because they
eat pork, and the third and strongest
reason is that they hold the Old Testa-
ment in the grandest veneration next
to the Koran, and their sages and wise
men can repeat 1t word for word, back
ward or forward. The ancient history
of the Jews Is known to the smallest
children who are entertained by their
fathers and grandfathers with stories
of David and Moses and all the rest
of the Jewish heroes, in much the same
way that American parents tell their
children of the wars Of the Revolution
and the heroes who figured in them.
MANY Of the pure blood Moros in
this region have all the fac simile re-
semblance Of the race, but no other at
tributes.
"They are proud, boastful and haugh-
ty in the extreme, and delight in nothing
so much as giving exhibitions of their
prowess with the kriss and barong.
Talking about weapons there is an
other thing which adds to my belief
that they are Of the lost tribes. The
children, when too young to be given
weapons such as the men wear, are
armed with slings, fashioned much like
that I suppose was used by David to
put pebble in Goliah's head, and the
strangest thing about it Is that these
boys five or six years old, take their
slings, and, using mud balls, play at
David and Goliah. They divide off into
pairs and when one Of them can land a
mud ball on the others head in the au-
thenticated place. the victim sinks
slowly to the ground as II numbered
with armor. and the youth who is play
ing the role of David comes over to his
victim with a stick and pretends to cut
off his head.
"In talking with some Of the old men
who once in awhile come into the towns
occupied by the Americans to get rid
of load Of cocoanuts. they have told
me that far in the interior Of the island
there Is mosque built entirely of stone
and 80 old that the memory Of the old
est man Of the tribe Is only that of his
great-grandfath ther. that it was there in
the beginning of the world and always
has been there. In this mosque they
said there Is a sacred box on which
two genii bow in prayer. That in the
box. which, though made Of wood and
covered with precious stones. Is older
than the mosque. there lies rod which
once budded in the hands Of Aaron, and
the two tables of stone. on which are
inscribed mysterious characters which
no living man can read. Back in the
beginning, they said. there was man
with fair skin. who guarded the box
and who was 80 old that he knew of
things which happened when the great
great-grandfathers Of the time were
little children. This man never died,
said the old men, but faded away, and
is now the terrible guardian Of the sa-
cred box and the mosque, and Is wor-
shipped by followers of Mohammet as
a terrible genii. who, II any harm
should come to the mosque, would
make the country one vast ruin. I told
the old man that we should one day
come into the country and see the Won
derful mosque and the still more Won
derful box, but he only smiled supe-
rior smile and said. Allah Is Allah,
and is the only merciful and true God.
Mahomet is his prophet: and then the
old, old man who guards the mosque.
With these three against you've shall
see what we shall see.'
IT am inclined to think that the old
man, having disposed Of his load Of CO.
coanuts, had imbibed too much 'bhang.
their native drink. but be that as 1t Is.
he was most certainly a wonderful
dreamer, and I should have liked to
hear more strange stories about the in
terror, but 1 had to come home on ac-
count of sickness.
ITO show you. however, that I am
not joking about the Moros' observance
of certain Jewish rites Of faith, will