CHAPTER XV.
THE PHILIPPINES—THE MORO COUNTRY.
The term Moro is used to describe the Mohammedan Filipino and includes a number of tribes occupying the large island of Mindanao, the smaller islands adjacent to it and those of the Sulu archipelago.
The northeast corner of Mindanao is separated from the island of Leyte by the Surigao Strait, and that part of Mindanao has considerable sprinkling of Christian Filipinos, but both that island and the Sulus can be considered Moro country. The Americans recognize the difference between the two groups of islands and administer government according to different plans. Civil government has been established in the northern islands, and except where ladronism prevails, law and order reign. There are in some places, as in northern Luzon, wild tribes in the mountains, but these are so few in number and so different from the civilized Filipinos that they do not enter into the solution of the Philippine problem.
In Mindanao, however, and the other Moro provinces warlike tribes have been in control. They have furnished a large number of pirates and have frequently invaded the northern island, carrying back Filipino slaves. They never acknowledged the authority of Spain and succeeded in keeping most of the island in the southern group free from Spanish control. Our country probably exercises authority over more Moro territory than Spain ever did, and yet our authority is limited and we employ the military form of government rather than the civil.
In our tour of the islands we crossed over the narrow part of Mindanao, went up the Cotabato valley and called upon the Sultan of Sulu at his home near Maibun on the island of Sulu.
We landed at Camp Overton, a military post on Iligan bay on the north coast of Mindanao, and immediately began the ascent to Camp Kiethley, eighteen miles in the interior. A military road has been constructed between these two camps, following for the greater part of the way the Spanish trail. Owing to the heavy rainfall and the luxuriant growth of vegetation it is difficult to keep a road in repair, and not far from the coast we passed a large number of prisoners who were engaged in straightening and improving it. About three miles from the coast we made a short detour in order to see the famous Argus Falls, and they are well worth seeing. The Argus river, which at this point is a larger stream, falls two hundred and twenty feet and rushes by a tortuous route through the narrow walls of a gorge. The falls are not only picturesque, but they suggest the possibility of future use. It has been calculated that one hundred thousand horse power is here going to waste. The military authorities have been trying to secure an appropriation for an electric railroad from Camp Overton to Camp Kiethley with the intention of obtaining power from the falls, but this would utilize only a small fraction of the energy which the Argus possesses. Two miles farther up the road we turned aside to see the rapids of the same river and here made our first acquaintance with the Moros. We found a dozen of them under a rude shed of palm leaves preparing the evening meal. The most conspicuous dish, at least the dish that attracted our attention, was a skillet full of grasshoppers being done to a neat brown over a slow fire. While we were watching them, two half bare children returned from the chase with a large supply of fresh grasshoppers strung upon grass. The Moros have a most repulsive habit of dyeing the teeth black, the enamel being first scraped off. Add to this the red tinge left on the lips by chewing of the betel nut and the mouth is anything but beautiful. The clothing of the Moros is scanty and of a cheap quality. The men, when at work, often wear nothing but a breech cloth. When dressed up they wear very tight fitting trousers of gay color; a tight fitting waist and a turban completes their company dress. A garment much worn by men and women is the sarong, which is a piece of cloth sewed together like a roller towel and folded about the body. The men, no matter what else they wear or fail to wear, have a scarf wound around the waist in which they carry a knife, of which there are several varieties, the bolo, the sarong and the kris being the most popular. The Moros above mentioned consented to having a snapshot taken, and their spokesman informed us in broken English that he had visited the St. Louis Exposition. Captain McCoy, one of General Wood's staff, who accompanied us as far as Zamboanga, explained to us that a number of Moros were sent to St. Louis as an experiment and that they had returned very much impressed with what they saw in the United States.