Our informant then went in, and, laughing, shook the Mahomedan chief by the hand, and congratulated him on his freedom from prejudice. He ever after had much influence with the old man, who feared being exposed. The inland inhabitants call themselves Islamites, but are very lax and ignorant. The Sulu language is soft; it contains, I believe, many Malay words and expressions, but it is essentially different; though the upper classes understand Malay, and also many of the lower, there being here numerous slaves from Borneo. The population, they say, is 200,000; it is probably 100,000; not less, from the numerous towns and villages along the coast, and the number of houses detached in twos and threes. On an extraordinary occasion, they say they could bring some 15,000 or 20,000 men into the field; but, in general, 5,000 would be as many as they could assemble. In fact, when the day of trouble came, they had not, perhaps, 2,000 to defend the town; and this may be readily accounted for, as a large proportion of the population is in servitude, which is, however, generally an easy state of existence. The slaves are collected from all parts of the archipelago, from Acheen Head to New Guinea, and from the south of Siam to the most northern parts of the Philippines: it is a regular slave market. The Sulus themselves are a better-looking people than any I have yet seen; they are daring and independent, and the mountaineers, particularly, are a wild but polite people. Their young women and little girls are dark-eyed and good-featured, with easy figures; free, though not obtrusive, in their ways. Bold and daring as the datus appear, they have much politeness in their manners, particularly datu Daniel and his brother; and on proper occasions their carriage is dignified and commanding. The lower orders are outwardly rough, violent, and fierce, yet have an inherent politeness, which, when inclined to show confidence, they display to much advantage. On state occasions the young men appear in splendid dresses, while the elder content themselves with plain clothes. The dress is the same as the rest of the archipelago--a jacket, trousers, sarong, and occasionally a shirt or under-vest. They all wear krises, and most of them also carry either muskets or spears.