At present trade has assumed new proportions and is following new routes. Zamboanga, Kotabato, and Davao are directly connected with Manila by regular steamship lines, and Jolo is fast losing its importance as a transshipping port. Zamboanga, on the other hand, is rising in importance and seems destined to become the port of Mindanao. It is the capital of the Moro Province and lies in the direct route connecting China, Manila, and Australia. It has direct communication with Manila, Hongkong, Singapore, and Australia, and is gradually diverting the trade of Mindanao from Jolo. In spite of overwhelming odds, however, Jolo will maintain considerable commercial importance. It has well-established trade relations with Borneo, the Malay Peninsula, China, and Luzon, and is connected by regular steamship lines with Sandakan, Singapore, Manila, and Zamboanga. Practically the whole trade of the Sulu Archipelago passes through this port, and it stands now, as ever before, as the center of business, power, and importance of the whole district of Sulu. In the early days the trade of Sulu was carried on by Moros and Chinese. The Chinese appear to have entered the Archipelago prior to its mohammedanization, and the commercial relations of China and Sulu are really prehistoric. As hostilities between Spain and Sulu increased, Sulu traders became less daring and grew fewer and fewer. Chinese traders, on the other hand, were less molested and conditions encouraged their increase. The "Chinese pier" is a very old business establishment, and Chinese traders and merchants have resided in Jolo for many generations. Their number, in 1851, exceeded 500. At present Chinese merchants have complete control of the trade of the Sulu Archipelago. They are found everywhere and command all the avenues of commerce. The Sulus have abandoned commerce as a trade and apparently have no inclination to resume it on any large scale. This is due mainly to the decline of their power and the present abeyance of their national life. A new political revival will no doubt change their attitude and may bring about a surprising development in arts and trades as well as of commerce. The trade between Jolo and various islands and settlements of the Archipelago is carried on by means of innumerable small Moro boats and sloops termed sapits. Formerly such boats traded with Bruney, Sandakan, the Celebes, Java, and all the various islands of the Philippine Archipelago, but the stricter enforcement of the customs regulations, which followed the establishment of open ports at Sitanki, Bangao, and Kagayan Sulu, had the effect of checking trade with foreign countries in such small boats and tended to concentrate the whole trade of the Archipelago at Jolo. A review of the imports and exports of the port of Jolo will therefore throw considerable light on the material resources of the Archipelago, its industries, and the enterprise of the natives. Port of Jolo IMPORTS