The dumatus urge that Tabunaway and Mamalu had been Mohammedans previous to that incident and that they had some intimate relation to Kabungsuwan. This is possible, but it is very difficult to understand how such a submission could have been enforced or obtained had Kabungsuwan been a mere relative and guest whom they had never seen before. The people of Magindanao proper were, even in the best days of the sultanate, far outnumbered by the people of Slangan. Yet, soon after his arrival in Magindanao, Kabungsuwan went on conquering and converting to Islam all the surrounding tribes and chiefs, and succeeded. This seems impossible of achievement unless Kabungsuwan had some force with him which commanded the fear and respect of the natives, and which, with the aid of Magindanao, was able to carry his arms to victory over all the neighboring native chiefs and tribes of the land. This force was in all probability made up of the Samals who accompanied him from Juhur and who remained in his service and in the neighboring seas for a certain period of time. But having married in Mindanao, the succession to Kabungsuwan's sultanate naturally reverted to the native element, and the Samals were gradually alienated and their sympathy with their master grew steadily weaker. Not being agricultural in their habits and preferring the sea, they gradually withdrew from Magindanao. The natives proved superior to the Samals and, though converted to Islam, they preserved, to a great extent, their own identity and their language. Knowing how insignificant the former chiefs and their settlements had been, it is not difficult for us to conceive how Kabungsuwan, with a small foreign force but with superior talent and with superior arms, could so easily accomplish the conquest of Magindanao. It is commonly believed that the natives who fought Kabungsuwan had no swords and depended chiefly on their wooden arrows as implements of war, and that the Mohammedans who attacked the natives fought with swords and gained an easy victory. Possibly they used gunpowder, too. The inhabitants of Slangan, Magindanao, Katitwan, and those of all the other settlements of the valley were pagans and were very similar to the present Tirurays in language and worship. Those who adopted the new religion remained in the rich lowlands of the valley, but those who refused fled to the mountains and have stayed away ever since. Those who wavered in accepting the new terms of submission and who were later suffered to stay in the neighboring hills were called Tiruray. Those who refused to submit, fled to more distant places, and kept up their enmity and opposition were called Manobos. The pagans who are thus spoken of as related to the Moros of Mindanao in origin, besides the above, are the Bilans, the Tagabilis, and the Subanos.