132 Pearls, 



dignified demeanour. The people are intelligent, 

 independent, daring, and fairly moral in their 

 lives. The means of livelihood are not hard to 

 attain, and the struggle for existence being thus 

 light, the Sooloos live a free and happy life ; in- 

 deed, the dull understanding and the mental 

 vacancy of our Western peasant are conspicuous 

 by their absence. 



The Sooloo nation presents the interesting 

 picture of an old civilization, the product of the 

 Mussulman faith, struggling against the inroad of 

 the innovations of Western civilization. Doubtless 

 the influx of strangers would enrich the Sultan 

 and the Sooloo aristocracy ; but the people gene- 

 rally would not be benefited by it, but rather the 

 reverse ; they are wise enough to see this, and to 

 be contented to live the life of their fathers. 



Famines and epidemics might be averted or 

 mitigated by Europeans, but these are only tem- 

 porary misfortunes, and tend to keep up the 

 standard of the race, by weeding out the weaker 

 individuals. On the other hand, the vices of the 

 West would take root, and multiply rapidly on 

 what is, to our minds, very rank soil, and the 

 evil would far outweigh any benefits. At present 

 the chiefs take good care to relieve a man of any 



