The Savannah morning news., 1902-08-10

are wonderfully beautiful, he says
! They are tall as a Filipino reckons
/ hight, being over five feet. They are
athletic and graceful.
/ They wear a loose robe, falling from
their shoulders and belted with a cord
of banana fiber. Their hair is worn
| sometimes flowing, sometimes coiled on
the top of the head as gracefully as a
European woman would coil hers
The men, he says, are splendid speci-
mems of manhood. being much over
five feet in hight. They wear short
| pair of breaches and are naked above
the waist. Many of them have curling
hair. All are fair hatred and blue
eyed.
The coloring of the people, their re-
markable intelligence. their skill in
certain simple arts, their grace and
strength and beauty their love of
sports-all these things were charac-
teristic of the Greeks of ancient civili-
zation. Why should not these people
be an offshoot of ancient Athens
They are a pleasure loving people
Castro has been present at many of
their festivals. which occur frequently.
He says that there is nothing barhar-
GUS about their gayeties. They have
all sorts of athletic contests-races and
jumping tests and what they call "hop
games" sort of leapfrog They have
wonderfully graceful dancing by the
men and women. They also have music
their instruments being mostly made
of bamboo. They are adorned on these
occasions with all kinds of curious or
naments-bits of colored stone, claws
OF birds, gay feathers and flowers. The
women are passionately fond of flowers
and they raise them in little gardens
near their homes.
They are thoroughly domestic, and
they keep their houses as neat as any
model housekeeper of our own coun-
try. They are clean in every way, al
though their homes are simple bamboo
houses like those of the brown natives
They use the cariboo and they raise
many domestic animals. Pigs were
taken there in trade, and now they
are fiourishing.
Castro goes to them to trade sugar,
rice and coffee for cloth and birds
plumage. Those two articles are the
chief merchandise of the mountain
people. They raise most of their own
food, but have none to sell.
Their dialect is strange to Castro. He
is an educated man for a Filipino,
speaks Spanish and is more or less ia
miliar with all the dialects of the ISL
ands, and says that this bears no re-
semblance to any one of them
But he is able to converse with them
through their. knowledge of Spanish,
and this has come to them through q
happening as romantic as any that
you could fancy.
Many years ago there came to them
a new ruler. They did not know that
he was to be their ruler when he came
He penetrated to their fastness, he
came unarmed and they admitted him.
Then they learned who he was.
When only four years old he had
been taken from one of their huts by
q Spanish surgeon. The mother and
father had run at his approach, leaving
behind their twin boys.
AS the parents were too much fright
eued to return, the Spaniard took the
children to Spain. There he educated
them and they became Christians.
One of them was a law student. As
soon as he was old enough he set out
for his native land. taking along with
him the education and the religion of
which his fathers knew nothing. AS
soon as the people realized who he was
they acclaimed him their Sultan.
Ever since he has ruled them, taught
and partially Christianized them. They
are fast leaving their Mohammedan
religion. and are taking up the creed
which he holds.
He lives among them In Spanish
style. clinging TO many OF the customs
which he learned In Europe's advanced
civilization But he win never leave
his own people. He has only one pur-
pose, and that Is TO advance them. 10
bring them 10 the level which he has
reached.
Their little round valley in the noun