II.] SULU ISLAND. 23 



streaks on the one side, and on the other merely a trace of grey. 

 It was a relief to turn and watch the land we were approaching ; 

 a second and almost more beautiful edition of Cagayan Sulu. A 

 dark mass of jungle-covered mountain, half hidden in mist and 

 rain-cloud, dimly overtopped the lower slopes, where the bright 

 green lalang grass was dotted here and there with trees, or varied 

 by patches of a deep brownish-red, which marked the plots of 

 cultivated gTOund. Farther to the south the cone-shaped peak of 

 Mount Tulipan proclaimed itself a volcano, and as the Marchesa 

 rounded the western point and made for the harbour of Meimbun 

 on the south side, the thick plantations of coconuts and fruit- 

 trees that lined the shore spoke of the fertility of the soil. The 

 praus that lay becalmed around us had their sails of the most 

 glowing colours, in stripes of red and blue and orange, and seen 

 under the light of an afternoon sun with their details softened by 

 the haze, the effect was quite as Venetian as Venice, where, alas ! 

 these beauty-spots of the landscape are now no longer common 

 except upon an artist's canvas. 



AVe anchored off the mouth of the little river on which the 

 village of Meimbun is built, and a few canoes with bamboo 

 outriggers on both sides came round us somewhat mistrustfully. 

 The Spaniards are hated by the Sulus, and there has been war 

 a outrance between them for a couple of centuries or more, with but 

 few intervals of peace. The sight of their fellow-countrymen on 

 board our vessel soon allayed the suspicions of the natives, and 

 ha\ing established our nationality, we put our little Eajah and his 

 followers into one of our boats, and rowed ashore to explore the 

 village. 



Had I to introduce my reader to the most un-European scene 

 I know of, I think I should ask him to take a seat with me in a 

 native canoe, and paddle up the graceful windings of the Meimbun 

 Eiver. At its mouth the huts, built on sea- weed-covered piles, form 

 each a separate island. Their floors are raised a bare three feet 

 above the level of the water, and one needs no better e^ddence of 



