CH.X.] Sulu Hunting Party. 195 



female attendants, betel-box carriers, &c, on foot. The 

 Sultan himself had forty or fifty followers standing around 

 in a broken circle. He is about thirty-five years of age, 

 and has a bright and intelligent countenance. His dress 

 consisted of an embroidered silk kerchief tied turban 

 fashion on his head, a dark close-fitting jacket of semi- 

 transparent material, embroidered with red and yellow 

 flowers, and having tight sleeves. Under this he wore a 

 white merino vest. Like most of his followers he wore 

 breeches which fit very tight below the knee, and are 

 wide and baggy in the seat. These were black and beau- 

 tifully embroidered with flowers just below the knee. 

 White socks and elastic-sided boots of European manu- 

 facture completed what my sailor friends called "his 

 queer rig." His eldest son, an " awful young sweep," of 

 about twenty years of age, was much more gaily attired 

 in a white striped blue vest and trowsers, and a bright 

 buff head-dress, while, like his father, he wore the short 

 heavy Sulu sword or "barong." The Sultana and her 

 suite kept in the background, of course, but were evidently 

 much interested at our visit. I noted that she wore full 

 Turkish trowsers of blue silk richly embroidered, and a 

 blue vest fitting very tight and ornamented with gold 

 buttons, lace in front, using the universal sarong as a 

 covering for her shoulders ; around her head a clear buff 

 kerchief was tied turban fashion ; white cotton stockings 

 and a pair of Chinese slippers completed her outward 

 visibilities. Nearly all the Sulu women wear a deal of 

 yellow, which contrasts vividly with their luxuriant black 

 hair, and like the men they ride well and also in the same 

 style, — exactly, fair reader, — a la fourchette ! 



We also had dismounted, of course, and had stood 

 talking and looking on the particoloured scene and 

 swarthy faces around us, when suddenly a cry from the 



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