58 THE SULU ISLANDS. [chap. 



A clay or two afterwards we returned to Parang on our way to 

 Jolo, and the ship, as on the former occasion, was visited by crowds 

 of natives, among them being a Datu or chief who was not upon 

 the best of terms with the Panglima Danimang. We learnt, 

 in fact, that hostilities were frequently apt to break out between 

 them. The most amusing of our visitors was a very fat, good- 

 natured-looking old Sulu, who was said to have been the most 

 renowned pearl-diver in the archipelago. He had on one occasion 

 reached a depth of twenty-seven fathoms. The Sulus are probably 

 the best divers in the world, and think nothing of depths of less than 

 seventeen or eighteen fathoms. "We were anchored at the time in 

 about fifty feet of water, and noticed that the natives went down to 

 bring up the old tins and empty bottles we had thrown overboard. 

 They do not use any weight, but swim straight downwards. 



Keturning from a shooting excursion next morning, we took 

 refuge in the Datu's house to avoid a heavy showier of rain. He 

 received our invasion with calm reserve, apparently not being too 

 pleased to see us, but after a time he became more friendly. His 

 house, like the others, was built on piles over the sea, with a 

 rickety bridge about eighty yards in length connecting it with the 

 shore. The floor was, as usual, constructed of split 1 jamboos, which 

 were so far apart that I nearly broke my leg by putting it through 

 a more than ordinarily large gap. Among a little pile of spears in 

 the corner of the room were three guns, one of which was a 

 magazine rifle of American make ! Our host was without cartridges 

 for it, happily for the Panglima, and we had neither the wish nor 

 the ability to assist hun. 



On the day following our arrival at Jolo we were astonished to 

 see a large man-of-war approaching the anchorage. She proved to 

 be- the Wolf, a German corvette, the officers of which were very 

 anxious to get information as to the doings of the Sj)anish authorities 

 in the archipelago. This we left them to obtain first hand, and 

 contented ourselves with lending them a couple of charts, of which 

 they w^ere in need. The Germans were at that time extremely 



