[The Bajows.] Another, and a very different race of natives who frequent the Sulu Archipelago, must not be passed by without notice.  These are the Bajow divers or fishermen, to whom Sulu is indebted for procuring the submarine treasures with which her seas are stored.  They are also very frequently employed in the beche de mer or trepang fisheries among the islands to the south.  The Bajows generally look upon Macassar as their principal place of resort.  They were at one time believed to be derived from Johore, on the Malayan peninsula; at another, to be Buguese; but they speak the Sulu dialect, and are certainly derived from some of the neighboring islands.  The name of Bajows, in their tongue, means fishermen.  From all accounts, they are allowed to pursue their avocations in peace, and are not unfrequently employed by the piratical datus, and made to labor for them.  They resort to their fishing-grounds in fleets of between one and two hundred sail, having their wives and children with them, and in consequence of the tyranny of the Sulus, endeavor to place themselves under the protection of the flag of Holland, by which nation this useful class of people is encouraged.  The Sulu Seas are comparatively little frequented by them, as they are unable to dispose of the produce of their fisheries for want of a market, and fear the exactions of the Datus.  Their prahus are about five tons each.  The Bajows at some islands are stationary, but are for the most part constantly changing their ground.  The Spanish authorities in the Philippines encourage them, it is said, to frequent their islands, as without them they would derive little benefit from the banks in the neighboring seas, where quantities of pearl-oysters are known to exist, which produce pearls of the finest kind.  The Bajows are inoffensive and very industrious, and in faith Mahomedans.

The climate of Sulu during our short stay, though warm, was agreeable.  The time of our visit was in the dry season, which lasts from October till April, and alternates with the wet one, from May till September.  June and July are the windy months, when strong breezes blow from the westward.  In the latter part of August and September, strong gales are felt from the south, while in December and January the winds are found to come from the northward; but light winds usually prevail from the southwest during the wet season, and from the opposite quarter, the dry, following closely the order of the monsoons in the China seas.  As to the temperature, the climate is very equable, the thermometer seldom rising above 90 deg. or falling below 70 deg..

Diseases are few, and those that prevail arise from the manner in which the natives live.  They are from that cause an unhealthy-looking race.  The small-pox has at various times raged with great violence throughout the group, and they speak of it with great dread.  Few of the natives appeared to be marked with it, which may have been owing, perhaps, to their escaping this disorder for some years.  Vaccination has not yet been introduced among them, nor have they practiced inoculation.