verse to that.

So, between nine and ten o'clock that night, we sailed for Tawi Tawi,
passing east of Basilan and Sulu. The ship, relieved of nearly all
its cable, rolled a great deal, both on our way up from Sulu and that
first night out from Zamboanga, but on the two succeeding days the
weather was calm, the air cool, and the "Sultan's Sea" a gigantic
mirror reflecting every cloud in the sky on its glassy surface. All
on board were idle then, and every steamer chair on the quarter-deck
was occupied.

On the first day out we saw no land at all, but the second day many
coral groups appeared to the east and south of Bongao. Among others
were Manuk Manuk, surely a name to conjure with! Then there was
also Balambing, which on our ship chart was marked PIRATES! Think of
sailing piratical seas in this prosaic twentieth century! We watched
eagerly along the coast of Balambing, to which we passed very close,
for possible crafts bearing black flags, and were rather disappointed
at not seeing even one bearded highwayman of the sea, a gleaming
knife between his teeth, his red shirt open at the throat, for, if
I remember rightly, it was so that pirates were always drawn in the
yellow-covered interdicted literature of childhood.

These southern waters were bluer than any we had seen on the trip,
excepting over coral reefs, where the blue changed suddenly to a
glittering iridescent green, sparkling and treacherous. This coral is
eminently American in its habit of expansion, and has spread itself
well over the southwest portion of the Celebes Sea.

Finally Tawi Tawi itself appeared on the horizon, and we recalled
that deep in its heart, surrounded by vast forests and jungles,
the faintly discernible ruins of Dungon exist, the ruins themselves
covered by tremendous growths of trees. This was the ancient capital
of the Moros, and there lie the remains of the first Arab Sultan,
that fierce old missionary who brought the Koran in one hand and a
_kris_ in the other to spread the light of Islam. That his converts
were many and their faith was strong and sure is attested by the
universality of Mohammedanism in these southern islands, and the
exclusive use of the Arabic characters in the writing of the people.

On the afternoon of March 3d, we anchored off Bongao. On our port
side, and well forward, lay the wrecked _Maud_ nearly filled with
water. Altogether she was in a deplorable condition, but in a few days
was raised by the combine