Vessels intending to trade at Soung should arrive before the Chinese junks, and remain as long as they stay, or even a few days later.  In trading with the natives, all operations ought to be carried on for cash, or if by barter, no delivery should be made until the articles to be taken in exchange are received.  In short, it is necessary to deal with them as though they were undoubted rogues, and this pleases them much more than to appear unsuspicious.  Vessels that trade engage a bazaar, which they hire of the Ruma Bechara, and it is advisable to secure the good-will of the leading datus in that council by presents, and paying them more for their goods than others.

There are various other precautions necessary in dealing with this people; for they will, if possible, so act as to give rise to disputes, in which case an appeal is made to their fellows, who are sure to decide against the strangers.  Those who have been engaged in this trade, advise that the prices of the goods should be fixed upon before the Sultan, and the scales of the Datu of Soung employed; for although these are quite faulty, the error is compensated by the articles received being, weighed in the same.  This also secures the Datu’s good-will, by the fee (some fifty dollars) which he receives for the use of them.  Thus it will be perceived that those who desire to trade with Sulu, must make up their minds to encounter many impositions, and to be continually watchful of their own interests.

Every possible precaution ought to be taken; and it will be found, the treatment will depend upon, or be according to the force or resolution that is displayed.  In justice to this people it must be stated, there have been times when traders received every kindness and attention at the island of Sulu, and I heard it even said, that many vessels had gone there to refit; but during the last thirty or forty years, the reigning sultans and their subjects have become hostile to Europeans, of whom they plunder and destroy as many as they can, and this they have hitherto been allowed to do with impunity.

Although I have described the trade with Sulu as limited, yet it is capable of greater extension; and had it not been for the piratical habits of the people, the evil report of which has been so widely spread, Sulu would now have been one of the principal marts of the East.  The most fertile parts of Borneo are subject to its authority.  There all the richest productions of these Eastern seas grow in immense quantities, but are now left ungarnered in consequence of there being no buyers.  The cost of their cultivation would be exceedingly low, and I am disposed to believe that these articles could be produced here at a lower cost than anywhere else.

Besides the trade with China, there is a very considerable one with Manila in small articles, and I found one of our countrymen engaged in this traffic, under the Spanish flag.  To him I am indebted for much information that his opportunities of observation had given him.