SUL0. 
143 
sent and married to tlie priDcipal chief, fi-om which 
alliance have sprung all the subsequent sovereigns that 
have governed Sulu : by this treaty of marriage the island 
became tributaiy to the Banjar Mass in empire. Among 
the improvements introduced by the Banjar peoj)le, are 
particularly enmnemted the elephant, the teak-tree, and 
the cinnamon ; the place becoming a delightful spot with 
considerable commercial advantageSj attracted a number 
of settleris from Borneo and the southern isles of the 
Philippines, and they managed to drive the Papuans to 
the almost inaccessible hills for shelter and concealment, 
in which state of constraint their numbers must have 
sensibly diminished."* 
This kind of matrimonial alliance appears to have heen 
by no means unusual in earlier times, as some of the 
principal men of the fair tribes of the Moluccas ti-ace their 
descent from the ancient chiefs of the country ; indeed indi- 
viduals are sometimes met with who are so strongly marked 
by Papuan characteristics as to afford strong confirmation 
of their claims. At the present day, it is by no means 
an uncommon thing for the Papuan chiefs to take to 
wife maidens of the fair race ; and the childi-en resulting 
from these unions are very favourable specimens of the 
human kind. Mr. Hunt's account of the Sulu Papuans 
in 1812 may be considered as showing th*e condition of 
the race immediately before they become absorbed in 
the general population, whenever such an event takes 
place. 
" Of the population in the in tenor, the Caffreea or 
• Hunt ; in Moor's " Notices of tkc Indian Arckipclago," Ap- 
