S O O L O O. 357 



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. Vacci- 

 nation 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 

 to Sooloo, we took our departure for the Straits of Balabac, the 

 western entrance into this sea, with a fine breeze to the eastward. 

 By noon we had reached the group of Pangootaaraang, consisting of 

 five small islands. All of these are low, covered with trees, and 

 without lagoons. They presented a great contrast to Sooloo, which 

 was seen behind us in the distance. The absence of the swell of the 

 ocean in sailing through this sea is striking, and gives the idea of 

 navigating an extensive bay, on whose luxuriant islands no surf breaks. 

 There are, however, sources of danger that incite the navigator to 

 watchfulness and constant anxiety ; the hidden shoals and reefs, and 

 the sweep of the tide, which leave him no control over his vessel. 



Through the night, which was exceedingly dark, we sounded every 

 twenty minutes, but found no bottom ; and at daylight on the 7th, 

 we made the islands of Cagayan Sooloo, in latitude 7° 03' 30" N., 

 longitude llb° 37' E. The tide or current was passing the islands 

 to the west-southwest, three quarters of a mile per hour ; we had 



