Butts County GaArchives News.....Lassitter, Edgar L. - Across the Sea June 1901 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Don Bankston http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00024.html#0005864 January 6, 2013, 8:05 pm Jackson Argus June 1901 Lassitter, Edgar L. – Across the Sea A Butts Boy in the Philippines Writes of Life and Customs There. Siassi, P. I., April 1, 1901 Mrs. O. B. Willis, Jackson, Georgia Dear Auntie – As my mind wandered back to the scenes of childhood and days of yore, I chanced to think of my dear old auntie , and presuming from the interest you have always manifested n our well doing, you would like to hear of my whereabouts, etc., I will proceed to let them be known to you. I am on Siassi Island, a small Island and one of the most Southern in the Sulu Groups, or Sulu Archipelugo; it is only 8 degrees north of the Equator, and 68 miles from the renounced British Island Borneo. The natives are Moros or believers in the Mohammedan Religion. They are the most ignorant people in existence, only about 8 percent of them can read and write, the rest being illiterate. The “Sulu Group” still acknowledge the Sultan as their ruler, although the U. S. has assumed authority here, and the country is under martial law. The Moros are not hostilely inclined and I don’t think they will be as long as Uncle Sam will continue to shell down the doe, and allow them to practice polygamy, and own slaves, under the protection of the U. S. Flag. The state of affairs, as they exist here is something awful, regarding their marriage accustoms, in particular the girl’s wishes are not consulted at all in regard to their matrimonial destiny. If a man sees a girl he wants he goes to her father and ask what he wants for her, if he and her father can agree on prices, she becomes her new owner’s wife. Fathers make no bones about discussing their daughters merits if they think it will aid them in disposing of them at a good price. Women commonly sell from 30 to 80 dollars. When they become wives they chew “Bete Nut”, which stains their teeth black as ink. The Moreos dress in very nude, disgracefully so, so much that the most ignorant negro in the states is a credit to them. The dwell in grass or Nepo huts and on boats; they subsist on roots, herbs, fruit etc. We have fruit in abundance, the best imaginable. The climate isn’t as warm as one would think down here, possibly it is because we have been here so long that we have become acclimated, that it doesn’t seem any warmer than it does; my health has been excellent since I have been in this country, much better than when I was at home, although I have had some trouble with my eyes. I attribute it partly to reading by lamp light, and partly to the sunlight for you know the sun is very bright in these parts. Write all the news and send me a pack of newspapers occasionally if it is convenient for you to do so. As ever, your nephew Edgar L. Lassitter i- Coi. A, 28d U. S. Infantry – Siassi, P. I. Jackson Argus – Week of June 14, 1901 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/butts/newspapers/lassitte3203nw.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/gafiles/ File size: 3.4 Kb