GEOLOGIC RECONNAISSANCE OF MINDANAO AND SULU. 491 



The region tlirougli which we passed contains niunerous Moro forts or walled 

 towns termed "cottas" peculiar to the Lanao Lake district and to Sulu. The walls 

 are several feet in thickness, made of earth, and protected by a dense hedge of 

 bamboo growing at the top. A moat nearly always surrounds the cotta and a 

 drawbridge of bamboo is provided. Bamboos, into the closed joints of which have 

 been placed long, slender-barreled brass cannon, knoAvn as lantakas, are thrust 

 through holes in the walls. The lantakas are imported from Singapore. We 

 passed fifty or more of these cottas in our trip around this part of the lake. Some 

 of them shelter only one or two houses, whereas others contain a score or more 

 dwellings, mosques and other edifices, in fact an entire village. Each data or 

 sultan lives in his cotta with his family and retainers close about him, and there 

 is constant petty warfare among the various chiefs. 



On the fourth day we reached the Taraea Eiver and stopped at the 

 house of a friendly datu. His cotta was^ perhaps, the most elaborate we 

 had seen; an elevation is shown by fig. 1. 



ElG. 1. 



It was impracticable to ascend the Taraea Eiver as far as the foothills 

 to look for copper ore which had been reported from that j)oint, because 

 of the high water, the absence of trails along the bank, and the nature 

 of the inhabitants. We did ascend for a distance of about 2 kilometers, 

 but became almost hopelessly entangled in the ruins of old cottas, some 

 recently destroyed by the Constabulary, others fallen into decay. 



This condition caused us to continue our march to Camp Keithley anH 

 from here we again crossed the lake to Camp Vicars, from which point 

 we set out for Malabang. The first portions of the road lie across an 

 open, almost treeless country which affords a splendid view of the Buldung 

 Eange which runs in a long, high, serrated line eastward from Malabang, 

 Some six or eight extinct craters of different heights, arranged so as to 

 resemble steps, are visible in this range. 



The road next enters heavy timber and at about one half the distance 

 to Malabang, crosses the steel bridge over the Mataling Eiver. The falls 

 of Mataling are not so high as those of the Agus, but are scarcely less 



