Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1909-05-20
TELLS OF BEAUTY
OF SULU ISLANDS
FORMER SOLDIER FINDS IT A
PICTURESQUE PLACE
RELATES STORY OF JoLo's
TRANSFORMATION
Member of Twenty-thlrd Infantry Mar
rates American Occupation of
Town Enormously Known
as Fever Bed

E. ]. Mack, late of company D.
Twenty-third infantry, United States
regular army, who was with that resl-
Ynent when Ii was ordered to Jolo, the
home of the Sulu chiefs, tells an inter-
esting story Of the little city and its
people. He has a flag, the sultan
flag, which is herewith reproduced.
IT has a red ground with five white
stars In a black field, a kries and q
smear in white and black stripe. Inc
stars represent religion, knowledge,
prayers. Indulgence money, titles ana
pilgrimage to Mecca. On the center
star is an inscription in Arabic indi-
eating that it is the flag of the sultan
The i've stars also stand for the t1Ve
provinces of the sultan. The red ground
represents the subjects of the sultan
and the weapons strength and war
The black stripe and field stand Tor the
goodness of the Mohammedan religion.
Mr.. Mack, in describing the expeal-
tion of the Twenty third infantry, says.
THE Twenty-third infantry, United
States army, had the honor of raising
the first American flag at Joio, Suiu
archipelago, in the southern Philip
pines, May 20, 1899.
1.-THE Twenty third was one of the
first regiments of regulars to reach Ma
nila soon after Dewey's victory.
early in May, 1899, they heard ru-
mors that the Twenty-third would be
sent to Jolo, and on May 10 received
final orders to proceed by the earliest
transport to the town Of Jolo. Inc or
ders caused dismay among the ofHcers
and men, for that station was popular
" believed to be a sandy beach with a
scattering of houses inclosed by strong
walls, beyond which the feroclous
Moros awaited to STAY any Christian
who appeared The Moros have the
reputation of being the fiercest and
most warlike of any of the East In
dian tribes, and being Mohammedans
the ones most likely to resist any in
vasion of Christian influences.
Journey Dreaded
I'm addition to the rather inhos-
pitable character of the people waiting
for us, we also had heard bad stories
about the climate of Jolo being orig
inally known as a fever bed, and his
tory tells how General Arolas, an ag-
gressive Spanish officer, who displeased
the government, was sent to govern
the archipelago on the belief that be-
tween fevers and Moros he would
never return alive.
with the imagination fired by
reading about the treachery and saw
agery of the Moros, the prospect Oh
life down in Sulu land was not az
tractive to us. So on May II we left
our cheerful quarters within the an
eient, Vine-clad turrets of old Fort
Santiago In Manila and went on board
the Leon XIII. a large Spanish trans
port, and sailed for the land of the
war-loving Moro. AS We steamed
down the great Manila bay we passed
close to Dewey's fleet on our left, with
every sailor on deck cheering us. Soon
01I.o Cd he Manila
which is about 200 miles In circumfer-
ence and forty miles broad at Its
greatest width. It Is thirty miles from
the mouth or entrance to the bay to-
the city of Manila. 1t may be classed
almost as a small inland sea. 1t can
harbor the entire naVies OF the world
so great Is this beautiful bay We en-
tered the great China sea and took
one more look at good old Manila, far
away.
EARLY next morning we found our
selves steaming through the inland
seas of the Philippines, to our future
home in Jolo in the Sulu archipelago.
Jolo Is more than 800 miles south of
Manila
1.-THE wonders of the archipelago are
so numerous and delightful that we
did not begrudge the time required for
the inter-island tour. 1t is enchant-
ing as one steams along, to watch the
picturesque 1lDa NUS VI lilS NllldBtIS
nesting among the groves of cocoa
nuts, bananas and bamboo; to see tho
wide lower slopes, green with the rich
fields of tobacco and sugar cane; to
note on the higher reaches the great
fields of hemp, and to gaze beyond
them on the mountains which tower
with impressive majesty above the
lovely scene.
Makes Beautiful Scene
the China sea and thirty hours of
steaming along the inland sea. the most
beautiful of ocean tracks, grander than
the inland sea of Japan, comes the
Sulu1 archipelago. The next ten hours
we passed among the most exquisite
islands I've ever seen. Many Of them are
uninhabited, and we stood by the rail
and looked across the CLASSY sea, whose
surface is broken only by the skipping
flights of hundreds of flying fish, and
picked out islands on which we could
establish a government The water is
clear, and we saw the white coral sand
far down below. Dozens of little islands
are scattered over the bosom of that
peaceful summer sea, and the rich
green of their hillsides and the broad,
white, cleaning bleaches and the bril-
liant sails of native pintas make pic
ture that is ideal.
Some of the islands rise like castles
from the sea, others are mountains
which nature has heaved up in single
peaks during some mighty subter-
ranean explosion, while the prettiest and
most enchanting of all are those dainty
little patches of tropical gorgeousness
that seem to float on the blue water,
with white pedestal of sand that
makes the island look like a china dish
filled with beautiful green plants.
I'VE came to the island of Sulu
which is the largest of all in the grOIID
although it is only thirty-fve miles long