The Washington times., 1902-02-02

THEY tell you-that is, the gaudily-
vestured. knife decorated Moros OF
i the southern half OF our Philippine
pcesessions tell you-that there Is ram!
season in the Sulus. but the truth ol the
matter is. they are in state OF perpetuai
drought down there if weather be meas
ured hv the standard OF Manila. where
providence pfcks up the ocean and drops
Il on the land daily for f1N odd months
each year II rains below the seventh OF
eighth degree OF latitude in our tar East
ern country during the months OF August
and September. in a fairly copious man
ner. with now and then good hard Storm
accompanied by some wind. The typhoon
Is absolutely unknown, which terrorlzes
the navigator farther north, Is well as
the owner OF the frail balloon built nIpa
house on shore At other seasons Of the
wear the climate is temperate one,
given 10 no great excesses of heat,
drought. moisture, or atmospheric turbu-
lence.
While this is not intended for picture
book story OF iairyland, but is TO be con-
verted into a dignified presentation OF the
little-known life OF the peoples OF these
South Sea regions, which lie so near an
other great terra incognito, the home oil
the wild man of Borneo. the islands ana
the climate-where the thermometer rare
" drops below 20 degrees Fahrenheit-are
SO beautiful and perfect, for the tropics
that one is inclined to rhapsodize over Ie-
licitous nature.
TINY Islands and Placid Seas.
These southern seas sleep softly
throughout the entire year. 1t is only
now and then some terrifying storm
devil from the north skaters for few
hours the placid sheeny blue of the trans
parent waters and stirs the gentle un-
dulations of its bosom into storm-tossed
respirations.
Little isIes-mere dots of whites. and
browns. and greens-thrust themselves
I'D from the coraled sands beneath,
taking on the fantastic shapes OF
moss-grown castles of medieval time.
Flying fish leap and soar by the thou
sand on iridescent wings over the still
ocean, and anon great schools of por-
poises, tagging along, take flight and rush
in putting bounds ahead of the vessel. The
sun goes down at night among the soft
clouds in colors which beggar description.
All in all the sweetest dreams of balmy
zephyrs and placid seas are more than
realized amid these new islands of ours
SO near the equator.
The Sulu archipelago is made up Of
three principal islands and forty or more
baby islands. beginning on the north with
Basilan. Sulu in the centre, and Tawi
Tawi on the south. They stretch south
westward for a degree of latitude and
east and west over degree of longitude.
Here are the homes of the piratical.
bloodthirsty race of Moros. known to
Spanish history as the most treacherous,
diabolical. and fearless fighters in the
East.
Spain Gould Not Conquer.
Spain never succeeded in conquer
ing them. though in the last generation
she did gain a bare foothold, which she
held by constant exercise of military
strength at Port Isabella in Basilan, Jolo
in Sulu, Siassi iii the Tapul group. and
Bongoa at the southern end of Tawi-
Tawi. Span's most serious mistake lay
probably in the distant past, when her
religious zeal so outweighed her discre-
tion that she tried TO make Mohamme-
dan a Christian. They have never for
given her and, furthermore. even II we
make no mistakes. they will look upon
white men in general with suspicion for
q generation to come.
1t is commonly related that Borneo
chiefs were the conquerors of the Sulu
group, in the latter part of the fifteenth
century. but il does not appear that they
exterminated some previously controlling
race in the conquest, or that the in
habItants differed from their new mas
tiers in language or customs. In point OF
fact. during known time the aboriginal
population, whether allied by language or
not, have warred against, rsided, and rob
bed one another in small fierce bands
under the leadership OF some li,ge lord
The Introduction of Mohammedanism
in the same century that Spain discover
ed the Philippines, among these wild row
ing fighters, who lived upon the quiet wa
ters of their seas quite as much as upon
the land, marked as interesting an ex-
pertinent in human evolution as we lind
in world history.
Love Introduces MohammedaniSm
The inhabitants of southern Mindanao
were the first 10 accept the faith and (
from here, relation says, II was trans |
planted into Basilan and the Suiu archi- |
pelago through an affair OF the heart |
the marriage Of the kings daughter to the /
ruling chief of the lower islands.
While Spain's galleons tossed the angry |
seas in search of new countries, and her ,
soldier priests carried the sword and the !
cross eide by side. among many different
peoples, 4 less civilized and perhaps a
less valiant people of the Eastern world
were reaching out from Mohammed's