were mentally debating as to whether they would have them set in
brooches or rings. But when they had been passed from hand to hand,
accompanied by the customary exclamations of envy and admiration, back
they went into the royal pocket again. "And to think," one of the party
remarked afterward, "that we wasted two bottles of perfectly good gin
and a bottle of vermouth on him!"

It was after midnight when our guest took his departure, the ship's
orchestra playing him over the side with a selection from _The Sultan
of Sulu_, which, in view of my ignorance as to whether Sulu possessed
a national anthem, seemed highly appropriate to the occasion. As the
launch bearing the Sultan shot shoreward Hawkinson set off a couple of
magnesium flares, which he had brought along for the purpose of taking
pictures at night, making the whole harbor of Sandakan as bright as
day. I heard afterward that the Sultan remarked that we were the only
visitors since the Taft party who really appreciated his importance.

* * * * *

Two hours steam off the towering promontory which guards the entrance
to Sandakan harbor lies Baguian, a sandy islet covered with
cocoanut-palms, which is so small that it is not shown on ordinary
maps. Though the island is, for some unexplained reason, under the
jurisdiction of the British North Borneo Company, it is a part of the
Sulu Archipelago and belongs to the United States. Baguian is famed
throughout those seas as a rookery for the giant tortoise--_testudo
elephantopus_. Toward nightfall the mammoth chelonians--some of them
weigh upward of half a ton--come ashore in great numbers to lay their
eggs in nests made in the edge of the jungle which fringes the beach,
the old Chinaman and his two assistants, who are the only inhabitants
of the island, frequently collecting as many as four thousand eggs in a
single morning. The eggs, which in size and color exactly resemble
ping-pong balls and are almost as unbreakable, are collected once a
fortnight by a junk which takes them to China, where they are
considered great delicacies and command high prices. As we had brought
with us a supply of magnesium flares for night photography, we decided
to take the camera ashore and attempt to obtain pictures of the turtles
on their nests.

As we were going ashore in the gig we caught sight of a huge bull, as
large as a hogshead, which was floating on the surface. Ordering the
sailors to row quiet