Note 59 — Appendixes to Part II

Furthermore, Sulu and the small adjacent islands produce nothing; even the rice and fish which the people use for their food come from our neighboring possessions: what business reasons are there therefore, capable of calling our attention, or whose profits would pay the expenses of a fleet placed in observation there? All the produce of the islands consists of bêche-de-mer and shell which are gathered by the slaves;59 the clothing and foodstuffs are furnished them, on credit, by our own ships; gold, wax and edible nests come from Mindanao. Hence commerce is confined to a season outside of which our ships never go near Sulu.