ready excuse for filling their own pockets
by the proceeds of warfare, in making feigned efforts to rescue
captives. It may be observed, in extenuation, that, in those days,
the Spaniards believed from their birth that none but a Christian
had rights, whilst some were deluded by a conscientious impression
that they were executing a high mission; myth as it was, it at least
served to give them courage in their perilous undertakings. Peace
was made and broken over and over again. Spanish forts were at times
established in Sulu, and afterwards demolished. Every decade brought
new devices to control the desperate foe. Several Governors-General
headed the troops in person against the Mahometans with temporary
success, but without any lasting effect, and almost every new Governor
made a solemn treaty with one powerful chief or another, which was
respected only as long as it suited both parties. This continued
campaign, the details of which are too prolix for insertion here,
may be qualified as a religious war, for Roman Catholic priests took
an active part in the operations with the same ardent passion as the
Mahometans themselves. Among these tonsured warriors who acquired
great fame _out_ of their profession may be mentioned Father Ducos,
the son of a Colonel, Jose Villanueva, and Pedro de San Agustin, the
last being known, with dread, by the Mahometans in the beginning of
the 17th century under the title of the Captain-priest. One of the most
renowned kings in Mindanao was Cachil Corralat, an astute, far-seeing
chieftain, who ably defended the independence of his territory,
and kept the Spaniards at bay during the whole of his manhood.

An interesting event in the Spanish-Sulu history is the visit of the
Sultan Mahamad Alimudin to the Gov.-General in 1750, and his subsequent
vicissitudes of fortune. The first royal despatch addressed by the
King of Spain to the Sultan of Sulu was dated in Buen Retiro, July 12,
1744, and everything, for the time being, seemed to augur a period
of peace. In 1749, however, the Sultan was violently deposed by an
ambitious brother, Prince Bantilan, and the Sultan forthwith went to
Manila to seek the aid of his suzerain's delegate, the Gov.-General of
the Philippines, who chanced to be the Bishop of Nueva Segovia. In
Manila the Priest-Governor cajoled his guest with presents, and
accompanied him on horseback and on foot, with the design of persuading
him to renounce his religion in favour of Ch