zon. On several occasions the Christian natives were urged, by
the inducement of spoil, to equip corsairs, with which to retaliate on
the indomitable marauders. The Sulu people made captive the Christian
natives and Spaniards alike, whilst a Spanish priest was a choice
prize. And whilst Spaniards in Philippine waters were straining every
nerve to extirpate slavery, their countrymen were diligently pursuing
a profitable trade in it between the West Coast of Africa and Cuba!

One must admit that, indirectly, the Mahometan attacks had the good
political effect of forcing hundreds of Christians up from the coast
to people and cultivate the interior of these Islands.

Due to the enterprise of a few Spanish and foreign merchants,
steamers at length began to navigate the waters of the Archipelago,
provided with arms for defence, and piracy by Mahometans beyond
their own locality was doomed. In the time of Gov.-General Norzagaray
(1857-60), 18 steam gunboats were ordered out, and arrived in 1860,
putting a close for ever to this epoch of misery, bloodshed, and
material loss. The end of piracy brought repose to the Colony, and
in no small degree facilitated its social advancement.

During the protracted struggle with the Mahometans, Zamboanga
(Mindanao Is.) was fortified, and became the headquarters of the
Spaniards in the south. After Cavite it was the chief naval station,
and a penitentiary was also established there. [58] Its maintenance
was a great burden to the Treasury--its existence a great eyesore
to the enemy, whose hostility was much inflamed thereby. About
the year 1635 its abandonment was proposed by the military party,
who described it as only a sepulchre for Spaniards. The Jesuits,
however, urged its continuance, as it suited their interests to have
material support close at hand, and their influence prevailed in
Manila bureaucratic centres.

In 1738 the fixed annual expenses of Zamboanga fort and equipment were
17,500 pesos, and the incidental disbursements were estimated at 7,500
pesos. These sums did not include the cost of scores of armed fleets
which, at enormous expense, were sent out against the Mahometans to
little purpose. Each new (Zamboanga) Governor of a martial spirit,
and desiring to do something to establish or confirm his fame for
prowess, seemed to regard it as a kind of duty to premise the quelling
of imaginary troubles in Sulu and Mindanao. Some, with less patriotism
than selfishness, found a