nut
water. This gave him occasion to make conversation, and he explained
that in his view no man who loved his wife—or for that matter anyone
else's wife—ought to drink the vile stuff. I suppose he meant that
coconut water was not good for the monkey glands.
He
filled his own glass with Bear-brand milk, and asked me to tell him,
since I was such a traveled man, where all the bear-cows came from. I
said I did not know, and he translated my reply to the Sultan who
seemed very pleased to think that I was no wiser than his chief
counselor.
Hadji
Butu next asked me had I come straight out of England, and when I said
"yes"—"Was the King of England in good health and also his Queen?" I
assured him they were perfectly fit when I left them, and to escape
further intimate questions I now presented the box containing my gift
to the Sultan.
His
Highness thought he had never seen anything like it, and asked me how
much it was worth. I diplomatically replied that now he had touched it
it was priceless. My answer so pleased him that he said with a gracious
smile, "Come again when I have some pearls to sell—that is, if you can
pay more than the Chinos."
I guessed that the audience was now at an end and bowed myself out of the room.
Jamalal
Kiram II. was himself a traveled man. When the United States Government
took over from the Spaniards, it had in its wisdom decided to treat the
Sultan to a round trip through Europe and America, the idea being that
if he saw with his own eyes the marvels of civilization he would do
everything in his power to assist in the developing of the islands.
Well,
he made the trip with a large retinue. On his return the Governor of
Mindanao and Sulu, who came in state to meet him, asked which were the
things in Europe and America that had most impressed His Highness. He
replied, "Three things: in Paris, the exceeding friendliness of the
ladies on
