red the garrison, which was as often replaced by
fresh levies.

In 1876 the incursions of the Mahometans and the temerity of the
chiefs had again attained such proportions that European dominion over
the Sulu Sultanate and Mindanao, even in the nominal form in which it
existed, was sorely menaced. Consequent on this, an expedition, headed
by Vice-Admiral Malcampo, arrived in the waters of the Sultanate,
carrying troops, with the design of enforcing submission. The chief of
the land forces appears to have had no topographical plan formed. The
expedition turned out to be one of discovery. The troops were marched
into the interior, without their officers knowing where they were
going, and they even had to depend on Sulu guides. Naturally, they
were often deceived, and led to precisely where the Mahometans were
awaiting them in ambush, the result being that great havoc was made in
the advance column by frequent surprises. Now and again would appear
a few _juramentados_, or sworn Mahometans, who sought their way to
Allah by the sacrifice of their own blood, but causing considerable
destruction to the invading party. With a kris at the waist, a javelin
in one hand, and a shield supported by the other, they would advance
before the enemy, dart forward and backwards, make zigzag movements,
and then, with a war-whoop, rush in three or four at a time upon a body
of Christians twenty times their number, giving no quarter, expecting
none--to die, or to conquer! The expedition was not a failure, but
it gained little. The Spanish flag was hoisted in several places,
including Sulu (Jolo), where it remained from February 29, 1876,
until the Spanish evacuation of the Islands in 1898.

The Mahometans (called by the Spaniards _Moros_) now extend over
nine-tenths of Mindanao Island, and the whole of the Sultanate of
Sulu, which comprises Sulu Island (34 miles long from E. to W., and
12 miles in the broadest part from N. to S.) and about 140 others,
80 to 90 of which are uninhabited.

The native population of the Sulu Sultanate alone would be about
100,000, including free people, slaves, and some 20,000 men-at-arms
under orders of the _Dattos_. [61] The domains of His Highness reach
westward as far as Borneo, where, up to 25 years ago, the Sultanate of
Brunei [62] was actually tributary (and now nominally so) to that of
Sulu. The Sultan of Sulu is also feudal lord of two vassal Sultanates
in Mindanao Island. There is, moreover, a hal