GUNS AND AMMUNITION. 
Anybody can shoot all day, but a gentleman always quits when he gets enough. 
MORO GUNS AND AMMUNITION. 
GEO. D. RICE, \ 
Of all the warlike peoples of the Sou- 
thern seas, the Moro tribes of Mindanao— 
next to Luzon the largest of the Philippine 
islands—possess the strangest and most 
fantastic weapons. 
As a member of the punitive expedition 
under Colonel Baldwin of the 27th Infan- 
try, I had ample opportunity to study the 
extraordinary equipments of the Moro 
tribesmen. Numerous murders and depre- 
dations committed by Mohammedan na- 
tives of the lake country made necessary 
an invasion of that region. From the 
beginning of our march from Malabang to 
the lakes we met with determined opposi- 
tion. Engagements were of daily occur- 
rance. At Fort Pandapatan and in various 
subsequent actions we captured the wea- 
pons shown in the accompanying cuts. 
The pistol is a favorite arm with the 
Moros. Those used by the Sultans or Dat- 
tos are often intrinsically valuable because 
of their ornamentation, pearls and other 
gems being used for that purpose. Fig. 1 
shows one of these carved pistols of 
ancient pattern, yet effective at short 
range. I saw pistols consisting of a mere 
tube affixed to a wood handle, as in Fig. 
2. Only weak ammunition is used, and 
the missiles employed are ordinarily peb- 
bles, bits of glass, etc. 
I saw one gun like that in Fig. 3, in 
which the cap was exploded by allowing 
the string of a bow to strike suddenly 
against the hammer. The idea was doubt- 
less derived from the medieval bow-gun. 
Fig. 4 is the most common pattern of Moro 
gun. It is an old design and made in 
Spain. The Moros used in almost every 
engagement a few Remingtons, Mausers, 
Springfields, Winchesters and now and 
then a Krag. The chiefs usually have con- 
siderable carved work on the stocks of 
their guns. Fig. 6 shows a favorite style 
of ornamentation, the stock carved in elab- 
orate floral effects and inlaid with rare 
gems. Fig. 5 represents one of the powder 
and ball bags carried by the Moro sol- 
diers. 
Sometimes natives in the line are pro- 
vided only with spears like that in Fig. 
6, a bamboo shaft with an old Spanish 
bayonet attached. In the trenches at Pan- 
dapatan many Moros fought with these 
bayonet-spears. 
The Moro is 
knife and 
weapon. 
: sensitive concerning his 
is exceedingly proud of that 
He spends hours cleaning and 
297 
polishing it, an attention he by no means 
pays to himself. Fig. 7 is a drawing of the 
sort of knife commonly used in the trench- 
es during the lake campaign. It must be 
understood that in capturing these Moro 


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forts, the soldiers first have to destroy the 
select jurementados who occupy the deep 
trenches about the fort. They may be 
few in number, but they have taken oath to 
die killing the enemy and by so doing ob- 
tain assured entrance into the Mohamme- 
dan heaven. At Pandapatan, Maciu, and a 
dozen other engagements, I saw these fel- 
lows attack our men hand to hand with 
knives like that in Fig. 7 and fight to the 
death. We lost brave officers and men this 
way. Fig. 8 is one of the shields for this 
kind of knife, 
