The inhabitants of the town are more or less migratory in character. The population is constantly changing. Few are property owners. The majority are traders, carpenters, and domestic servants. The Filipinos were originally “camp followers” and still feel as strangers in the land. Many of the Moros living at Tulay and Busbus are of mixed origin. The mixture is chiefly of Sulus and Samals, with each other and with Chinese. The Jolo type of Moros is by no means pure Sulu and has consequently misled many authors and ethnologists. A large number of Samals frequent Tulay and Busbus and often temporarily reside there, but because of their strong migratory habits no estimate has been made of them.
A few Arabians, Malays, and Indian traders are married in the country, but their proportion is small and insignificant at present.
1 The spelling of proper names used throughout this paper is that adopted by the author and differs in some respects from that in use in the Division of Ethnology.—Editor.
2 This settlement is on a small adjacent island of the same name.
3 An officer next below a datu in rank.
4 An officer next below a panglima in rank.
5 The word Tumangtangis means “Shedder of tears.” As the summit of this mountain is the last object to be seen by sailors leaving the island, they weep from homesickness when they lose sight of it.
6 Quoted in Keppel’s “Visit to the Indian Archipelago,” p. 70.
7 Some maps place this mountain near Tu’tu’, but reliable Moros apply the name to the mountain west of Si’it and nearer to Su’ than to Tu’tu’.
8 Princess Ipil and her followers were wrecked and drowned at this point. Their bodies are said to have turned into stone and formed the rocks that line the shore. Some of the rocks seemed to the people to resemble petrified human beings.
9 Names of fruits with no English equivalents.
10 A Philippine tree from the blossoms of which a perfume is made.
11 Spanish word for street.
12 Beach at the head of the bay.
13 A sultanate in northern Borneo.
14 The Mindanao Herald, July 21, 1906.
15 Gum copal.
16 Most of these are females.
Chapter II
Genealogy of Sulu
Translator’s introduction
The manuscript of which a translation follows is an exact copy of the original, which is in the possession of Hadji Butu Abdul Baqi, the prime minister of the Sultan of Sulu. The genealogy proper begins on page 6 of the manuscript and is written entirely in Malay. This was the rule among all old Moro writers and is a decided indication of the authenticity of the document.
Hadji Butu maintains that his ancestry goes back to Mantiri1 Asip, one of the ministers of Raja Baginda, the Sumatra prince who emigrated to Sulu prior to the establishment of Mohammedanism in the island. The Sulu ministry seems to have remained in Asip’s lineage down to the present time.
The first five pages of the original manuscript are the genealogy of Asip’s descendants. This part is written in Sulu and was probably composed at a later period than the Malay part of the book. It is written by Utu Abdur Rakman, the nephew of Imam Halipa, who is the son of Nakib Adak, the last person mentioned in the genealogy. Abdur Rakman is a cousin of Hadji Butu.
The addition of these five pages to the Genealogy of Sulu is for the purpose of giving prominence and recognition to the sons of Asip, who have been the right-hand men of the Sultans of Sulu since the organization of the sultanate.
Sulu author’s introduction
This is the genealogy of the sultans and their descendants, who lived in the land of Sulu.
The writing of this book was finished at 8 o’clock, Friday the 28th of Thul-Qaʿidat,2 1285 A. H.
It belongs to Utu3 Abdur Rakman,4 the son of Abu Bakr. It was given to him by his uncle Tuan5 Imam6 Halipa7 Abdur