SOOLOO. 379 



nish authorities in the Philippines encourage them, it is said, to 

 frequent their islands, as without them they would derive little 

 benefit from the banks in the neighbouring seas, where quantities of 

 pearl-oysters are known to exist, which produce pearls of the finest 

 kind. The Bajows are inoffensive and very industrious, and in faith 

 Mahomedans. 



The climate of Sooloo during our short stay, though warm, was 

 agreeable. The time of our visit was in the dry season, which lasts 

 from October till April, and alternates with the wet one from May till 

 September. June and July are the windy months, when strong 

 breezes blow from the westward. In the latter part of August aud 

 September, strong gales are felt from the south, while in December 

 and January the winds are found to come from the northward ; but 

 light winds usually prevail from the southwest during the wet 

 season, and from the opposite quarter, the dry, following closely the 

 order of the monsoons in the China seas. As to the temperature, the 

 climate is very equable, the thermometer seldom rising above 90° or 

 falling below 70°. 



Diseases are few, and those that prevail arise from the manner in 

 which the natives live. They are from that cause an unhealthy- 

 looking race. The small-pox has at various times raged with great 

 violence throughout the group, and they speak of it with great dread. 

 Few of the natives appeared to be marked with it, which may have 

 been owing, perhaps, to their escaping this disorder for some years. 

 Vaccination has not yet been introduced among them, nor have they 

 practised inoculation. 



Notwithstanding Soung was once the Mecca of the East, its people 

 have but little zeal for the Mahomedan faith. It was thought at one 

 time that they had almost forgotten its tenets, in consequence of the 

 neglect of all their religious observances. The precepts which they 

 seem to regard most are that of abstaining from swine's flesh, and 

 that of being circumcised. Although polygamy is not interdicted, 

 few even of the datus have more than one wife. 



Soung Road offers good anchorage ; and supplies of all kinds may 

 be had in abundance. Beef is cheap, and vegetables and fruits at 

 all seasons plenty. 



Our observations placed the town in latitude 6° 01' N., longitude 

 120° 55' 51" E. 



On the 6th, having concluded the treaty (a copy of which will be 

 found in Appendix XIII.) and the other business that had taken me 



