92 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL 
and flora are distinctly Philippine, and widely different 
from Borneo. The inhabitants, as has been already 
stated, are Mohammedan Malays, speaking a peculiar 
language allied to Bisayan and written in the Arabic 
character. They are considerably advanced in civilisa¬ 
tion, making beautiful parangs , as the Sulu krisses are 
termed, and breeding horses with a special eye to racing 
them. Since 1885 the German Borneo Company has 
established tobacco plantations upon the island, the 
labourers being Chinese coolies from Singapore. The 
ylang-ylang plant is also cultivated. Liberian and 
Arabian coffee has been proved to do well, but there 
are as yet no white planters. Many valuable articles of 
commerce are produced, such as tortoise-shell, tripang, 
edible birds’ nests, pearls, and pearl-shells. The islands 
are also a great mart for slaves, the piratical expeditions 
having for centuries brought captives from every part of 
the archipelago, so that here are to be found pure Malays 
from Sumatra, Papuans from New Guinea, and even 
natives from Siam in the north, and of Java and Timor 
in the south. These slaves are bartered with traders, 
and thus find their way to remote islands, and must have 
helped to produce those mixtures of various races which 
often render it difficult for the anthropologist to deter¬ 
mine the affinities of many of the so-called Malay 
peoples. Although the check upon piracy has also had 
considerable effect upon this trade, there is no doubt that 
it is still largely carried on, and the Spaniards are power¬ 
less to stop it. The chief market and port of export is 
Maimbun. Official returns give the population of the 
Sulu Archipelago at 100,000, which is probably too high 
an estimate. 
Between Tawi-tawi and Sibutu intervenes the deep 
channel known as the Sibutu Passage, which zoologically 
