The Sulu Archipelago and its people, by Sixto Y. Orosa ...

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INTRODUCTION

are beginning to avail themselves of wide educational
opportunities.
The way is at last open to the economic development
of these Southern Islands, which contain one third of
the arable land of the Philippines. In Mindanao, the
valley of Cotabato alone, if wholly brought under
cultivation, could be made to produce enough rice to
supply the entire Philippine demand. This would make
the Islands independent of supplies from Saigon and
Rangoon and would even permit them to export rice
in large quantities. But colonist, investor, and government official need to be informed concerning the people
with whom they have to deal. The Philippine government's "policy of attraction" must be carried out by
individuals. Effective cooperation with the people of
the land and effective administration can be had only
if there is adequate knowledge of the customs, susceptibilities, and needs of the Moro people.
In this period of assimilation and extraordinary
progress in those islands that were once known chiefly
as the home of "Malay pirates," it is most fortunate
that Dr. Orosa should have taken the trouble to
write such a book as The Sulu Archipelago and Its
People. The subject should command the attention of
Christian Filipinos, for these people of our Southern
Islands are kin of ours with whom our political, social,
and economic ties must ever grow more intimate; and
it should certainly be of interest to people in the
United States. Dr. Orosa, by training, by experience,
and by temperament, has been peculiarly qualified to
write this account of the history of the Sulu, which as
the seat of the sultanate is the most interesting and
typical section of the land of the Moro. The least that