132 
PALAWAN. 
shoot with their sumpitans, having no houses, living under rocks. The Sulus told me that 
bargains with these people are made in the following curious manner. When a native 
wishes to purchase rattans or damar from these people, he has to place his exchange value 
of goods in the forest at some recognized spot, and the following day he returns and finds 
what the Orang-Utan consider the equivalent value in produce. This seems rather too 
curious to be true, but as there is always some foundation of fact in native tales, I give it 
for what it is worth. A Sulu told me that the best way to frighten these barbarians was to 
pretend to have a cold, which he suited by the action of placing his finger and thumb to 
his nose; then, said he, “ they run away like fools.” I can believe this, as catarrh is as 
dangerous as any disease to these people: their constitutions being unaccustomed to 
colds, therefore when attacked they often die. 
Having now given some account of this part of Palawan, its physical geography, and 
inhabitants, I will give a detailed account of my lengthened residence in this island. 
The communication between Palawan and Labuan is carried on by the steamship 
‘ Royalist ’ *, a small but clean and comfortable steamer, owned by a company of Chinese 
traders who trade between that island and Singapore, making trips about once in two 
months. 
On the 18tli of June, 1887, I left Labuan for Palawan with seven Kadyans, all trusted 
followers. I had been advised by the Governor of Labuan not to visit this island, as he 
considered the Sulus unsafe, as they had a short time previously murdered an American 
trader located there, and had only a few months since murdered several Chinamen and 
sacked their stores. The Sulus are nothing else but a lot of pirates who have lost their 
occupation through the invention of steamships. But, even now, whenever a steamer gets 
stranded they secure a good deal of loot before they are driven otf. Though Palawan 
belongs to Spain, no attempt has yet been made to keep in check the lawless Sulus who 
inhabit the southern end of the island, but before I left there were rumours of forts being 
erected a short distance from Taguso. The advent of the Spanish, and more especially 
their priests, will cause an exodus of the Sulus, who will retire elsewhere. The Sulu being 
Mohammedan hates the Spaniard, and does his best to poison the minds of the ignorant 
Dusuns, by telling them that the Spanish will make slaves of them all. In reality the 
Dusun will be much better off when his Sulu masters have disappeared. 
19th.—We anchored at mid-day in the small harbour on which the Spanish colony is 
situated in the island of Balabac. This island is the most western possession of the 
Spanish in the archipelago ; it is small and mountainous, and covered with dense forest. 
The small town from the decks of the ‘ Royalist ’ looks well-to-do, the houses being 
zinc-roofed; but on a closer inspection the zinc roofs only serve to show up the neglected 
woodwork of the buildings. The hills at the back of the town have been cleared for some 
distance for health’s sake, but a full cemetery testifies to the unhealthiness of this place. 
The trade is carried on by the ubiquitous Chinese. A circular building in which the 
Sunday cock-fights take place was one of the sights visited by us. Near the shore were 
stacks of horse-shoes which had been salvaged from a steamer wrecked a few months 
* Siuce wrecked. 
