|
ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC 217
shells,
I will give toll to you as sultan and I will also give toll to the
owners of the pearl grounds according to what we agree upon."
So
I informed all the owners of the pearling ground, and they said, "If he
is really in earnest to give toll to us owners of the ground according
to what we agree upon, if we don't agree, we will not allow him to
fish." Thereupon Captain Tiana and I went to the Spanish governor to
bear witness. The governor said: "All right; anything you agree upon;
I cannot change the law of the Moro people, and I will not interfere."
That
is how I allowed Captain Tiana to fish, and I gave him a letter of the
truth according to agreement. Therefore if any person of other nation
wants to fish for mother-of-pearl shell, he will have to do as Captain
Tiana did, and ask me for a letter of truth, and if he has no letter
and does not pay toll to the owners of the ground, and especially to
me, he cannot dive, and if he violates this and if anything befalls
him, I am not responsible and do not want to be held, responsible,
because the mother-of-pearl shells are like the property in our boxes
given to us by God. They do not go away from the places where they are
put, they are not like fish that go about. Therefore, we forbid it. It
is our heritage from our forefathers.
(Signed) Hadji Mohamad Jamaul Kiram,
Sultan of Sulu.
[Seal of the Sultan.]
Following
these representations, the legislative council of the Moro province, by
authority of the Philippine Commission, interdicted all fishing for
pearl-oysters within three marine leagues of any land within the
territorial limits of the Moro province, without license first obtained
from the treasurer of the district within which the vessel carries on
the major part of its operations.1 No litense was to be
issued to any vessel not owned in the Philippine Islands or in the
United States, and not wholly owned by citizens of the United States,
by natives of the Philippine Islands, or by persons who have acquired
the political rights of natives,2 except that foreign
vessels which for one year immediately preceding had actually engaged
in pearl fishing might secure license to continue therein for a period
of five years thereafter.
Licenses
were of two kinds, according to the nature of the fishery. To engage in
fishing with the aid of diving-suits, the fee was five hundred pesos
annually, for each of the greatest number of divers beneath the surface
of the water at any one time. For fishing with-
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||