the manner in
which the natives live. They are from that cause an unhealthy-looking
race. The small-pox has at various times raged with great violence
throughout the group, and they speak of it with great dread. Few of
the natives appeared to be marked with it, which may have been owing,
perhaps, to their escaping this disorder for some years. Vaccination
has not yet been introduced among them, nor have they practiced
inoculation.

Notwithstanding Soung was once the Mecca of the East, its people
have but little zeal for the Mahomedan faith. It was thought at once
time that they had almost forgotten its tenets, in consequence of
the neglect of all their religious abservances. The precepts which
they seem to regard most are that of abstaining from swine's flesh,
and that of being circumcised. Although polygamy is not interdicted,
few even of the datus have more than one wife.

Soung Road offers good anchorage; and supplies of all kinds may be
had in abundance. Beef is cheap, and vegetables and fruits at all
seasons plenty.

Our observations placed the town in latitude 6 deg. 01' N., longitude 120 deg.
55' 51'' E.

Having concluded the treaty and other business that had taken me to
Sulu, we took our departure for the Straits of Balabac, the western
entrance into this sea, with a fine breeze to the eastward. By
noon we had reached the group of Pangootaaraang, consisting of five
small islands. All of these are low, covered with trees, and without
lagoons. They presented a great contrast to Sulu, which was seen behind
us in the distance. The absence of the swell of the ocean in sailing
through this sea is striking, and gives the idea of navigating an
extensive bay, on whose luxuriant islands no surf breaks. There are,
however, sources of danger that incite the navigator to watchfulness
and constant anxiety; the hidden shoals and reefs, and the sweep of
the tide, which leave him no control over his vessel.

[Cagayan Sulu.] Through the night, which was exceedingly dark, we
sounded every twenty minutes, but found no bottom; and at daylight
on the 7th, we made the islands of Cagayan Sulu, in latitude 7 deg. 03'
30'' N., longitude 118 deg. 37' E. The tide or current was passing the
islands to the west-southwest, three quarters of a mile per hour;
we had soundings of seventy-five fathoms. Cagayan Sulu has a pleasant
appearance from the sea, and may be termed a high island. It is less
covered with undergrowth and mangrove-bus