
SOCIETY 173 
evidently sleeveless coats of slabs flexibly linked. 
Similar armor is still sometimes made by the Moros of 
plates of brass or buffalo horn joined by brass rings. 
In spite of its weight, it unquestionably affords much 
protection against swords and spears, but would be 
useless against firearms. 
The Moro also now and then make a brass helmet 
that appears to be neither of Hindu nor Arabic type, but 
an imitation of the helmets which were worn by the 
Spaniards who first invaded the archipelago. It is an 
interesting example of a local persistence of fashion 
among a half civilized people. 
Firearms had come into the Moro districts of the 
Philippines along with Mohammedanism. Guns in 
our sense of the word seem to have been unknown; but 
every chief of consequence boasted some culverins or 
small bronze cannons. These were set on the sultans’ 
forts or stockades, and sometimes on war vessels. All 
these pieces were small, two men usually sufficing for 
their transport, and mounted on a simple swivel pin. 
The bore was small, not exceeding an inch or two; and 
gunpowder both scarce and of poor quality. The 
Spaniards however praised the quality of workmanship 
of some of these little cannon, which they believed to 
have been imported from China. This may have been 
the case; but the Mohammedans of other parts of the 
East Indies had used this light artillery for a century or 
two before, and most of the pieces in use by the Philip- 
pine Moros are likely to have been made by Malays. 
They were not only employed in warfare, but valued as 
treasures, their esteem among the Moros being similar 
to that which gongs and Chinese jars enjoyed among the 
pagans. 
