en to the residence of the Spanish
Governor, Don Manuel Castellon, a very humane gentleman and a personal
friend of mine. In Don Manuel's study there was a collection of
native arms which took the stranger's fancy; one morning he seized
a kris and lance, and, bounding into the breakfast-room, capered
about, gesticulated, and brandished the lance in the air, much to the
amusement of the Governor and his guests. But in an instant the fellow
(hitherto a mystery, but undoubtedly a _juramentado_) hurled the lance
with great force towards the Public Prosecutor, and the missile, after
severing his watch-chain, lodged in the side of the table. The Governor
and the Public Prosecutor at once closed with the would-be assassin,
whilst the Governor's wife, with great presence of mind, thrust a
table-knife into the culprit's body between the shoulder-blade and
the collar-bone. The man fell, and, when all supposed he was dead,
he suddenly jumped up. No one had thought of taking the kris out of
his grasp, and he rushed around the apartment and severely cut two of
the servants, but was ultimately despatched by the bayonets of the
guards who arrived on hearing the scuffle. The Governor showed me
his wounds, which were slight, but his life was saved by the valour
of his wife--Dona Justa.

It has often been remarked by old residents, that if free licence were
granted to the domesticated natives, their barbarous instincts would
recur to them in all vigour. Here was an instance. The body of the
Moro was carried off by an excited populace, who tied a rope to it,
beat it, and dragged it through the town to a few miles up the coast,
where it was thrown on the sea-shore. The priests did not interfere;
like the Egyptian mummies cast on the Stygian shores, the culprit
was unworthy of sepulture--besides, who would pay the fees?

During my first visit to Sulu in 1881, I was dining with the Governor,
when the conversation ran on the details of an expedition about to be
sent to Maybun, to carry despatches received from the Gov.-General
for the Sultan, anent the Protectorate. The Governor seemed rather
surprised when I expressed my wish to join the party, for the journey
is not unattended with risk to one's life. [I may here mention that
only a few days before I arrived, a young officer was sent on some
mission a short distance outside the town of Jolo, accompanied by a
patrol of two guards. He was met by armed Mahometans, and sent back
with one of h