ng
distance in a very short time. Soon we were in the heart of the vast
wilderness. We passed by colonies of monkeys, who severely reprimanded
us from their secure retreat among the tree-tops. One of the soldiers
killed a python with his Krag--a swollen creature, that could hardly
be distinguished from the overhanging vines--that measured twenty
feet from head to tail. The Moros silently unslipped their knives,
and dextrously removed the skin. We camped that night in shelter tents,
although the ground was soaked, and a cold breath penetrated the damp
woods. All night the jungle-fowl and monkeys kept up an incessant
obligato, and the forest seemed to re-echo with mysterious and far-off
sounds. At daylight we pushed on, and late in the afternoon arrived
at the small Moro settlement. The tiny _nipa_ houses, set up on bamboo
poles, were rather a poor substitute for shelter; but on reaching them
after our two days in the forest, it was like arriving in a civilized
community. The doctor went immediately to the datto's house, a large
one with a steep roof, where he dosed the infant with a little quinine.

There were about five hundred Moros in the village under the datto,
who ruled absolutely as by hereditary right. While he, of course,
was feudal to the nearest sultan, in his own community he was a
lord and prince. Most of the people were his slaves and fighting
men. His private warriors, or his bodyguard, were armed with krisses,
_campalans_, and spears, with shields of carabao hide, and coats of
mail of buffalo-horn, as defensive armor. The favorite weapons of
the datto were elaborately inlaid with the ivory cut from the tusks
of the wild boar. His dress was also distinctive, and when new must
have been very brilliant. It was fastened with pearl buttons, while
along the outside seams of his tight pantaloons a row of smaller
buttons ran. A dirty silk handkerchief wound around his head, the
corner overlapping on the side, made an appropriate and fitting
headgear. He had several wives, for whom he had paid in all a sum
amounting to a hundred sacks of rice and twenty cattle. He had lost
considerably on his speculations, having divorced three wives and
being unable to secure a rebate on the price that he had paid for them.

As soon as the doctor had completed his attentions to the patient, the
_pandita_ (priest) appeared, and asked him to account for the strange
happenings that had occurred in the community. The village was in