The S 00 loo Archipelago. 131 



regarded by this fanatical Sooloo race as noble acts 

 of patriotism. 



Physically the natives are far superior to the 

 ordinary Malay type, and the national character is 

 a strange mixture of villainy and nobility; but the 

 people must be long studied before the latter will 

 become sufficiently evident to be appreciated. Even 

 in these modern days, when the Malay Archipelago 

 is traversed by innumerable merchant steamers, and 

 real piracy may be said to have well-nigh disap- 

 peared, the Sooloo name is still regarded in the 

 other islands as the synonym for cruelty, treachery 

 and ferocity. In the days of the late Sir James 

 Brooke, fleets of piratical praus were fitted out in Soo- 

 loo, and carried their depredations as far as Singapore 

 and Bangkok on the one side, and New Guinea 

 on the other. They spread devastation and misery 

 wherever they went, and there is reason to believe 

 they penetrated as far as Polynesia. Even at the 

 present day every Sooloo man is a pirate at heart, 

 and although steam and breech-loaders have com- 

 pelled the adoption of a less violent means of 

 livelihood, yet the character of the race is still 

 unaltered. Murder, theft and violence are in 

 Sooloo acts of everyday occurrence, whilst preva- 

 rication, and even a total disregard for truth are 

 found in company with a grave, polite and 



