and at the time of our visit. Indeed,
he had been _legally_ adopted by the royal family, the fierce old
Sultana calling him "Brother," and the Sultan referring to him as
"Papa," while a greater proof of their affection may be found in this
extract of a letter written to General MacArthur on the Moros being
told that they were soon to lose their first American governor.

" ... I hereby bring to your notice that I have heard that our father,
Major Sweet, Governor of Jolo, will be taken away from us. This is
the reason of my writing to you, because you are the parent of the
Moro people, and it is known to us that you will always do your best
for us, as you have done hitherto. Therefore, I beg to you anyhow
for the present not to remove Major Sweet from here, as he has been
very good to us, and he is very well known to everybody. He is like
a parent to us Moro people. It will be just like a child who is left
by his parents; he will fret and be longing for the one he loves;
the Moro people are the same way. Even if somebody else would come,
it would not be the same, as he would be unknown; he will be another
man for that reason. To tell the truth, our father, Major Sweet,
has opened our eyes; he has been the man to show us the right way
to come up to the white man's ideas, and there are many cases where
he has shown us his good-will. Therefore, I, the Sultan of the Jolo
Archipelago, am seeking that whatever is good for my people. It is
my sincerest wish that my country should go ahead.

"Since Major Sweet, our father, has been in command of Jolo
Archipelago, no disturbance of any description has occurred; the reason
is, that he has taken great interest in our country and its people. He
was the man who saw our poverty, our incapability of paying customs
duties, as more than one calamity has befallen our islands; therefore,
we thank him and we trust him, although not knowing what he will do in
the future, if it will change or not. Therefore, I and my people ask
you to consider the removal of Major Sweet, we ask you to leave him
here; we would like him to teach us the customs of the white people."

This, signed by the Sultan himself, is surely documentary evidence
of successful American administration with the Mohammedans, who were
counted by the Spaniards as quite ungovernable.

Socially, we found Sulu delightful, and in our few days there had
many pleasant dinners both on and off the ship, a little dance at the
cl