, at
the present moment, contains a population equal, if not larger, than
that of Luzon, and the margins of the immense lake, situated in its
center, are covered with well-built towns, filled with conveniences,
the fruits of their annual privateering, and of the traffic they
carry on with the inhabitants of the Island of Jolo. True it is,
and it may be said, equally fortunate, that they are greatly divided
into parties, subject to a variety of "datus," or independent chiefs,
in name only inferior to the one who styles himself the sultan of the
whole Island. As, however, the fortresses and districts of Caraga,
Misamis, and Zamboanga occupy nearly three parts of the circumference
of the Island, these Moros freely possess no more than the southern
part, commencing at about twenty-five leagues from Cape San Augustin,
and ending in the vicinity of Zamboanga; so that the largest number
of their naval armaments are fitted out and issued to sea, either by
the great river of Mindanao, or from some of the many bays and inlets
situated on the above extent of coast.

[Jolo.] The Island of Jolo, although small compared with that of
Mindanao, is, nevertheless, in itself the most important, as well
as the real hotbed of all the piracies committed. Its inhabitants,
according to the unanimous reports of captives and various merchants,
in skill and valor greatly exceed the other Mahometans who infest
these seas. The sultan is absolute, and his subjects carry on trade
with Borneo, Celebes, and the other Malayan tribes scattered about
this great Archipelago. In the port of Jolo, as already noticed,
sales are made of Christians captured by the other Moros. The Chinese
of Amoy, as well as the Dutch and British, carry them manufactured
goods, opium and arms, receiving, in return, black pepper, bees'
wax, balato, edible nests, tortoise-shell, mother-of-pearl, gold
dust, pearls, etc., and from Manila also a vessel usually goes once
a year with goods; but all act with the greatest precaution in this
dangerous traffic, guarding, as much as possible, against the insidious
acts of that perfidious government. The great number of renegades,
of all casts, who have successively naturalized themselves there;
the abundance of arms, and the prevailing opulence, have, in every
respect, contributed to render this Island a formidable and powerful
state. The capital is surrounded with forts and thick walls, and
the famous heights, standing near it, in case o