The Spaniards have for years refused to send back any slaves who claim their protection, yet it has been remarked by Dr. Montano, and by missionaries and Spanish military officers, that slaves have been employed fishing or tilling the ground near the Spanish outposts, and only rarely would one step within the lines to obtain his liberty. If caught running away from their masters, the dattos, they are sometimes put to death, or mutilated in a most cruel manner. The famous Datto Utto, of the Rio Grande, is said to have stripped a runaway slave naked and to have tied him to a tree, leaving him to be stung to death by the mosquitos or devoured piecemeal by ants. This same Datto Utto, towards the end of 1889, made himself so objectionable to the Datto Abdul, one of his neighbours, that the latter determined to place himself and his people under Spanish protection. His village consisted of eighty houses and was situated on the banks of Rio Grande. Datto Abdul gave proofs of engineering skill, for he constructed eighty rafts of bamboos, and placing a house upon each with all its belongings, inhabitants and cattle, he floated his whole village fifteen miles down the river and landed at Tumbao, establishing himself under the protection of the fort. The Datto Ayunan, who resides in the same neighbourhood, also came over to the Spaniards, and learned to understand and speak Spanish very fairly. He had at least three thousand followers, and in the fighting on the Rio Grande in 1886-87 he took the field, supported the Spanish forces against the other dattos, and rendered important services. Several other dattos and chiefs have submitted to the Spaniards; for instance, the Sultan of Bolinson, who has settled at Lintago, near the barracks of Maria Christina. In the district of Davao more than five thousand Moros are living peacefully under Spanish rule. The famous Datto Utto, who gave so much trouble, lost followers and prestige, and now where the Moro King of Tamontaca held his court and reigned in power and splendour on the Rio Grande, a Jesuit Orphan Asylum, and Industrial School flourished [till the war caused it to be abandoned], bringing up hundreds of children of both sexes, mostly liberated slaves of the Moros, to honest handicrafts or agricultural labour. Amongst the Moros, the administration of justice is in the hands of the dattos or of their nominees. Offences are punished by death, corporal chastisement, or by fines. However, the customs of the country admit of an offended person taking the law into his own hand. Thus he who surprises his wife in the act of adultery may cut off one of her ears, shave her head, and degrade her to be the slave of his concubines. If he catches the co-respondent he may kill him (if he can). A calumny not justified, is fined 15 dollars; a slight wound costs the aggressor 5 dollars; a serious wound, 15 dollars, and the weapon that did the mischief; a murder can be atoned by giving three to six slaves.