The Spell of the Hawaiian Islands and the PhilippinesAnderson, Isabel
History
The Spell of the Hawaiian Islands and the Philippines
Anderson, Isabel
Hawaii; Philippines
It is interesting to read in a recent number of the Manila _Times_ that
Zamboanga, which seemed so like a picture handed down from Spanish days,
has absorbed a good share of American progressiveness and is said to
stand in a class by itself among Philippine towns. Waterworks and a
hydro-electric plant are under construction, the water for which is to
be brought along the mountainside, a part of the way through tunnels. To
dig these, "experienced Igorot tunnel makers from Benguet were
imported," who are getting along amicably with the Moros.
At Jolo, or Sulu, we were again greeted by a Moro fleet and some diving
girls and boys.
This seemed the culmination of the picturesque in our trip. The
mountains of the island are not high but rather cone-shaped, and as we
approached the town we could see behind it the forested slopes of steep
Bud Dajo, where the great fight took place in 1906 and many Moros were
killed in the crater top of the volcano, to which they had retreated,
and from which they challenged and threatened the American forces. It is
an island of fierce, piratical Moros, and even the Americans had not
tried to do much there. It was dangerous to go outside the little walled
town at all, and all the natives coming in were searched for their
weapons, which were taken away at the gates. Only a few months before, a
fanatic Moro tried to attack the gate guard, but fortunately was killed
before fatally injuring any one.
[Illustration: MORO BOATS.]
The walled town is a most artistic little Spanish place, built once
upon a time by the exiled Spanish Governor Asturia, who made it a gem of
a town, with small balustraded plazas and a hanging-garden sea wall, and
a miniature wall with battlements and gates, and streets set out with
shading trees. The pretty Officers' Club and quarters overhung the wall.
The gates of the town are closed at night, and all the natives must
leave for their houses outside before the "retreat," but there is a
native market and a town built out on piles over the water, which we
visited. We drove out to a plain, palm-fringed and backed by mountains,
that overlooked the sea, where there was a review of the cavalry and a
large company of mounted Moros, who carried many American flags among
their waving banners. Within the walls, in a grandstand in the little
plaza, where the natives thronged, there was a meeting between the
Secretary and the chief datos; and the Hadji, who had been Vizier of the
Sultan, made a wise speech, full of promise of loyalty. Our Governor had
won the good will of the people about him and the Hadji said that when
his people were certain of our good intentions they would come in
willingly and be loyal--but, for so many years, they had been misled by
previous rulers.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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