In theory, the Moros accept the Koran and the teachings of Mahomet: in practice, they omit the virtues of their religious system and follow those precepts which can be construed into favouring vice; hence they interpret guidance of the people by oppression, polygamy by licentiousness, and maintenance of the faith by bloodshed. Relays of Arabs come, from time to time, under the guise of Koran expounders, to feed on the people and whet their animosity towards the Christian.
The Panditas are doctors also. If a Datto dies, they intone a dolorous chant; the family bursts into lamentations, which are finally drowned in the din of the clashing of cymbals and beating of gongs, whilst sometimes a gun is fired. In rush the neighbours, and join in the shouting, until all settle down quietly to a feast. The body is then sprinkled with salt and camphor and dressed in white, with the kris attached to the waist. There is little ceremony about placing the body in the coffin and burying it. The mortuary is marked by a wooden tablet—sometimes by a stone, on which is an inscription in Arabic. A slip of board, or bamboo, is placed around the spot, and a piece of wood, carved like the bows of a canoe, is stuck in the earth; in front of this is placed a cocoanut shell full of water.
The old native town, or cotta of Sulu (Joló) was a collection of bamboo houses built upon piles extending a few hundred yards into the sea. This was all demolished by the Spaniards when they permanently occupied the place in 1876, excepting the Military Hospital, which was re-constructed of light materials, native fashion. The sea-beach was cleared, and the native village put back inland.
The site is an extremely pretty little bay on the north of the island, formed by the points Dangapic and Candea, and exactly in front, about four or five miles off, there are several low-lying islets, well wooded, with a hill abruptly jutting out here and there, the whole forming a picturesque miniature archipelago.
Looking from the sea, in the centre stands the modern Spanish town of Sulu (Joló), built on the shore, rising about a couple of yards above sea-level, around which there is a short stone and brick sea-wall, with several bends pleasantly relieving the monotony of a straight line.
Forming a background to the European town, there are three thickly wooded hillocks almost identical in appearance, and at each extremity of the picture, lying farther back inland, there is a hill sloping down gradually towards the coast. The slope on the eastern extremity has been cleared of undergrowth to the extent of about 50 acres, giving it the appearance of a vast lawn. At the eastern and western extremities are the native suburbs, with huts of light material built a few yards into the sea. On the east side there is a big Moro bungalow, erected on small tree-trunks, quite a hundred yards from the beach seawards. To the west, one sees a long shanty-built structure running out to sea like a jetty; it is the shore market. The panorama could not be more charming and curious. Still farther west, towering above every other, stands the Bad Tumantangas peak (Mount of Tears), the last point discernible by the westward-journeying Joloano, who is said to sigh with patriotic anguish at its loss to view, with all the feeling of a Moorish Boabdil bidding adieu to his beloved Granada.
The town is uniformly planned, with well-drained streets, running parallel, crossed at rectangles by lovely avenues of shading trees. Here and there are squares, pretty gardens, and a clean and orderly market-place. There is a simple edifice for a church, splendid barracks equal to those in Manila when these were built, many houses of brick and stone, others of wood, and all roofed with corrugated iron.
The neighbourhood is well provided with water from natural streams. The town is supplied with drinking-water conducted in pipes, laid for the purpose from a spring about a mile and a quarter distant, whilst other piping carries water to the end of the pier for the requirements of shipping. This improvement, the present salubrity of the town (once a fever focus), and its latest Spanish embellishments, are mainly due to the intelligent activity of its late Governors, Colonel (now General) González Parrado, and the late General Juan Arolas.
The town is encircled on the land side by a brick loop-holed wall. The outside (Spanish) defences consisted of two forts, viz:—The “Princesa de Asturias” and “Torre de la Reina” and within the town those of the “Puerta Blockaus”, “Puerta España” and the redoubt “Alfonso XII.”—this last had a Nordenfeldt gun.