Note 7 — Chapter III · Rise and Prosperity of Sulu

However, the Sulus do not differ in this particular point from the Malays of other countries. All Malays were equally addicted to piracy. “It is in the Malay’s nature,” says an intelligent Dutch writer, “to rove on the seas in his prau, as it is in that of the Arab to wander with his steed on the sands of the desert. It is as impossible to limit the adventurous life of a Malay to fishing and trading as to retain a Bedouin in a village or in a habitation. * * * This is not merely their habit; it may be termed their instinct.”7