80 THE SULU ISLANDS. [chap. 



although perhaps not actually regional, is quite as striking as that 

 which Mr. Wallace has shown to exist at the Lombok Strait. 



]\Ir. Burl)idge, in the work already quoted, states that the Sulu 

 language " approaches that spoken by the inland tribes of North 

 Borneo," ^ a statement in which I venture to think that he was 

 mistaken. It appears to be closely allied to the Tagalog, and the 

 so-called Bisayan of the riiilippine Islands, but to abound with 



A SULU GIRL. 



Malay and Javanese words, which have doubtless been introduced 

 with Mohammedanism. The Arabic character is, I believe, the 

 only one in use in the archipelago, but there are probably not 

 many of the natives who are acquainted with the art of writing. 

 Malay is very generally spoken by the coast dwellers, especially on 

 the western side of the island, but in the interior it is little known 

 except by the chiefs." 



The history of the archipelago, were it written, would consist of 



^ There are of course many settlements of the Sulus in North Borneo, especiall}- 

 in the neighbourhood of the Kiuabatangan. Perhaps it is to these that Mv. 

 Burbidge refers. 



2 Fide Appendix lA^. on the Sulu language. 



