Sulu Customs.
The fierce and conservative nature of the people, the peculiar and long-rooted feudal laws, the presence of an ancient dynasty, and of an ineradicable, fanatical belief,—these are a few phases of the complex problem to be met now. So far, the Spaniards have succeeded in maintaining their protectorate only by a protracted military occupation, which, as I have said, has by no means been always effective.
The Sulu Islanders dress with great taste. The women are fond of bright colors and love to adorn themselves with jewelry. They have the baggy nether dual-garment, so dear to all other women of their faith. Their tight-fitting bodice is usually covered with arabesque designs. In embroidering them they show great skill. For a head-covering they wear the jabul, a long strip of stuff, sewn like a deep narrow sack, open at the sides. This, if allowed to fall, would reach down to the feet; the end, however, is always held under the arm. The women are usually very graceful, and many are also pretty.
A Jungle in Luzon
The men wear tight breeches, usually a scarlet, or of some other bright, color. On the sides are rows of shining buttons, that give a very dazzling effect. A buttoned waistcoat, a jacket with close-fitting sleeves, and a turban complete a costume that is as picturesque as it is unique. The men are handsome and very robust, lithe and active. Their complexion is a dusky bronze, and they have piercing black eyes. Their forehead is low, and their black hair falls in glossy waves upon the neck. Though brave and daring to an extraordinary degree, they are conservative and cautious—no less quick in mind than agile in body, and always sober and self-contained. They are extremely suspicious, and as merciless when angry as they are obstinate and vindictive. They are far more artistic than their Christian neighbors in the north. Their coats of mail, krises, lances, swords, and other weapons are of their own making. They are most skilful navigators, too, which accounts for their success as pirates. All males over sixteen years of age bear arms. The office of chief is hereditary. When a chief dies, the pandita, or priest, chants a requiem, while the attendants beat a hollow piece of wood that serves as a gong. The neighbors rush in, and shout and stamp their feet while the body is sprinkled with salt. A successor is then proclaimed. The panditas have great power over their flocks, inciting them to frequent fasts and to furious flagellations. Many and varied are the ceremonials of their belief.
The Spanish Government derives no taxes from the Sulu Protectorate, but gives the Sultan a pension of $2,400 a year. The Sultan is called the Stainless One, and is the chief of both Church and State. He is an irresponsible despot, and the head of the feudal system. The Sultanate is hereditary under the Salic law. The Sultan has his Advisory Council and his Ministers. He lives in considerable state in the centre of the new capital, Maybun, in a large well-constructed palace of wood.
The roomy vestibule is always lined with an abundant display of indigenous plants and shrubs, dazzling to the eye and intoxicating to the senses. It is, indeed, as if the entire tropic realm had been ravished of its richest, rarest, and most gorgeous specimens of plant-life to glorify this spacious entrance-way. From there on to the throne-room is of but little interest.
Of course, letters, despatches, or verbal requests of foreigners have all to be transmitted through the official interpreter, servants meanwhile flitting about, in the gayest and most ludicrous costumes, offering betel-nut to each and everyone,—to the bevy of Sultanas and to foreign guests, all seated on silken and highly embroidered cushions scattered on the floor.
In the town of Maybun there is nothing to be seen of any note, but the country round about is magnificent.
Slavery exists by birth and conquest. Rice, Indian corn, sugar-cane, indigo, and coffee are the common products of the Sultanate. The chief export is pearls, for which the natives dive often a hundred feet. They frequently attack sharks, which they fight with the deadly kris, never failing to come off victors.
