- Author:
- Olivares, Jose de.
- Publication Info:
-
St. Louis:
N.D. Thompson,
1899,
pg 727
Text on page 727
OUR ISLANDS AND THEIR PEOPLE.
comparisons could be made, but England is a great word in the East, and some one had told him that we were greater even than that, so he knew that he must yield all that we asked; there was something infinitely pathetic in the way in which he clung to the last shadow of his sovereignty, and in dealing with him General Bates was uniformly kind and courteous.a
Mrs. Anna Northead Benjamin is the lady who wrote the foregoing account of this momentous historical event, and the American people will thank her for the picturesque manner in which she paints its various features. It is the best description of the incident that has'yet appeared, and after reading it no one will fail to appreciate the honor of our alliance with his high and mighty excellency, Lari Paduka Maha Sari Manalana, Sultan Hadji Mu-hamed Jamalul Kiram!a whose royal state we support with a salary of $250 per month.
The Moro children who gathered to witness the show imagined that the white ladies had painted their faces, so they
He is a fine-looking man; a lithe, blithe savage, indeed. a Look out for him/ says Shuck to me, a he is a first-rate man. If he is going to kill you, hea ll say so/ With this pleasant and assuring description, I adjourned with an allegretto beat of heart along the shore from Jolo, five miles, and came to where the dato lived. Under the great tree of Patikolo, the countryfolk held market day. The datoa s house is built out over the waters. He received me kindly in his bare feet, and placed for edification before us ten kinds of sweetmeats and some excellent coffee. The dato was glad, he said, to have the Americans near him. He thought they would make good servants and traders. Yes, thought I, but shades of Jefferson and the true American Washington, the countrymen of Lincoln serving a half-naked savage! The thought wrung laughter.
a The dato had a fine little boy. He wanted me to take a picture of him. I did so; then his excellency wanted the picture. I explained that I would put it on paper at Manila. He said: a Why not now ?9 I looked; on the wall were twenty-five Reming-
NATIVE VILLAGE ON THE ISLAND OF CORREGIDOR, IN MANILA BAY.
This island is mountainous, with a delightful climate and a wealth of attractive scenery. The Government has established a health station here,
and it will doubtless soon become a fashionable resort.
added to the hilarity of the occasion by dusting their little black countenances with rice flour, in order that they might do honor to the great and beautiful ladies who had come from over the sea to pay their respects to the mighty Sultan! It was a grand occasion, long to be remembered.
Everything connected with our new citizens is grotesque, and the expansion of their ideas regarding America is limitless. A correspondent who visited Dato Joka Nina, whose village sleeps on the sea beach near Jolo, thus describes his experiences and sensations:
a The dato, or chief, rents the land to his retainers. He gets the biggest pearls from the diveries opposite his landa i. e., is supposed to get them. The Sultan gets rent from the datos; except in the case of Joka Nina, the dato of Patikolo, this dato having got up a scrap four years ago and licked the spots out of the Sultan. This Joka Nina I had the pleasure of visiting.
ton rifles and one Mauser carbine. Well, I said it was such an important thing, it took time. This relieved the situation, and we continued both of us to retain our heads on our shoulders.a
This Dato Joka Nina is a character in his way. He is supreme lord of his district, and since his successful rumpus with the Sultan, no one dares to dispute his sway. Having whipped the Sultan, it is only natural that he should regard the Americans as his servants, especially since we pay the Sultana s salary. The datoa s method of administering justice among his own people is thus described by an American officer at Jolo:
a A few weeks before we arrived in Jolo, Dato Joka Nina had occasion to execute one of his followers. The man had been intrusted with money belonging to the dato. The first time he came to his chief and said:
a a Oh, great and benevolent dato, I have gambled away thy money! Forgive me.a
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