628 GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES IN MALAYSIA AND ASIA, 



these islands is concerned. They are, as already stated, volcanic. 

 But if the geology is deficient, it is a matter of astonishment that 

 Ml". Crawfurd was able to obtain so much information about the 

 language and ethnography of the people. 



The following is a description of the groups known to the 

 Spaniards. (1) Balanguingui Group: — this group consists of 

 fourteen islands, seven of which are uninhabited. In the rest 

 the population is estimated by the mandarines, as the chiefs 

 are called by the Spaniards, as capable of furnishing 325 men fit 

 to bear arms. This is the peculiar way in which, in this region, 

 information is fm-nished about the population. (2) Tapul Group : — 

 21 islands, 10 uninhabited, 1,300 men of arms. (3) Group 

 Keknaponsan : — eight islands, nearly all uninhabited, but furnish- 

 ing 60 men of arms, (4) Group Tawi-Tawi, 42 islands, 30 

 uninhabited and 1,200 men of arms. (5) Tagbabas Group : — 14 

 islands, none of which are inhabited, (6) Pangutaran Group: — 23 

 islands, 12 of which are uninhabited, and in the lest 440 warriors. 

 (7) Sulu Group : — 13 islands, 7 of which ax'e uninhabited : in the 

 others 15,600 warriors, the greater part of whom live in Sulu. The 

 Sulu Group is in every respect the most important of the whole. 

 To this is added the Sulu-Cagayan island, which is widely 

 separated from the rest, and is supposed to have about 400 

 warriors. This curious way of computing the population is 

 derived from the unfailing war-like and piratical tendencies of the 

 people. The whole number of the inhabitants, men, women, and 

 children, including a large number of slaves is supposed to be 

 about 20,000. 



Some of the islands have mountains upon them of tolerable 

 height. Thus Sulu, which is 34 miles long from east to west, has 

 three parallel ranges from one coast to the other in an E.N.E. 

 and W.S.W. direction. The principal summits are Tumantangis 

 about 2,700 feet high, situated on the west, Tulipan on the south- 

 east 1,900 feet high, and Mabustan about 1,300 feet. But the 

 whole of the island is rugged and mountainous^ with a width of 

 about 12 miles and a circumference of over 100. It has about 30 

 towns and villages, the principal of which is Parang on the west 



