Below is an excerpt from a rare Filipino history book' written during the US occupation of the Philippines. It has a very strong colonial bias and the writer's racist attitude reeks in the piece, so someone should really annotate this book.
The region of Mindanao and Sulu is one of the oldest battlegrounds in the world. These dark jungles and blue seas knew only the law of the strong, whose song was the song of the kris.
Men of all creeds and colors have scrambled for a foothold in Mindanao--from India, Ceylon, Borneo, Celebes, Java, China, Japan, Portugal, France, Spain, Holland, England and America. Their bones moulder there, and only the spirits of intrepid adventurers remain. They reckoned not on the courage of the defenders of this soil.
Let the reader reflect upon one pathetic incident of the American occupation of Sulu. After listening patiently to General Bate's glowing description of the rich and powerful United States of America, the Sultan of Sulu asked, "If all of this be true, why then do you seek my poor little islands?" To which General Bates made no reply.
In his defense of the religion and customs of Islam against the militant priests of Spain, the Moro set a new historical precedent. He survived. His religion survived. The Mayas, the Aztecs and the Incas fell before the Toledo steel, and their language and institutions perished with them. Their temples were destroyed and their literature burned by over-zealous bishops of the Roman Catholic church
Not so with the Moros; sturdy and intact, their religion still flourishes on the shores of Sulu. The conquistadores came, fought vainly, and retired. The Moros remain.
The Moros are a grand people. Every one of them is valiant. There never was a Moro who was afraid to die. Death on the field of battle is a privilege, and they guard their privileges jealously.
As a civilizing agency, the position of the Moros is doubtful. As fighting men, they take first rank in the pages of martial history.
