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Immediately after the abandonment of Cotabato by the Spaniards the Filipino residents set up a government there.

In several instances we did not pass the act organizing a given province at the time of our visit, but for one reason or another postponed action until a later date. We visited a number of places like Joló, Basilan, Zamboanga, Cotabato, Davao and Samar, where we had no intention of establishing civil government, in order to observe local conditions.

The ditch was growing wider and deeper every moment and judging from the enormous flow of water, it would not be long before the river deserted its circuitous route in favor of this direct one. "Quick! quick!" whispered Piang. "Bungao, bind the siwaka rafts together and head for Cotabato. We will overtake you before sunrise." A faint cry reached them. Kali had begun the attack.

Along the watershed between the districts of Davao and Cotabato they possess all the territory and even extend in some numbers into the lowlands toward Lake Buluan. They are distinctly a mountain people, having never reached the sea, except near Sarangani Point, until after the advent of the American.

The Dyaks saw it coming, and in their puny efforts to escape, looked like ants before an elephant. The five streams, flowing through the delta of the Cotabato River, seemed to draw the vicious waterspout toward them, and on it went, directly in the wake of the doomed Dyaks. Tensely the Sabah's passengers followed the course of the spout.

Old Dato Kali Pandapatan laid his hands once again on his favorite's head: "Little brother," he said, "this shall be known as Piang's Cut-off. Some day you will be the greatest dato in Mindanao." News that a strange craft had put into Cotabato reached Piang in his mountain home. Hurriedly he gathered his few weapons together and started down the trail.

That Papita had been dragged to the barrio, Piang now had no doubt, and his nimble wits began to look about for a way of escape. He was near the banks of a creek that led to the Cotabato River and thinking that the most likely escape, he wormed his way toward it. Along the bank were canoes of every description.

Think of Filipe Buencamino, of Aguinaldo's cabinet, representing the Moros of Zamboanga; of the mild, scholarly botanist Leon Guerrero representing the Moros, Bagobos, Mandayas and Manobos of Davao; of José M. Lerma, the unscrupulous politician of the province of Bataan, just across the bay from Manila, representing the wild Moros of Cotabato; of Juan Tuason, a timid Chinese mestizo Manila business man, representing the Yacan and Samal Moros of Basilan; of my good friend Benito Legarda, since a member of the Philippine Commission, and a resident delegate from the Philippines to the congress of the United States, representing the bloody Moros of Jolo!

Where the creek empties into the Cotabato River, Piang paused; there were suspicious-looking shadows close to the bank, and he reached for his precious baskets. "Work slowly, Papita," he whispered, and the trembling girl kept the vinta just moving. From its ominous silence, the jungle crashed into chaos. " iiiiiio!" shrieked the echoes. Piang was ready.

His body lay there inert and formed undulations which are now the folds which the earth forms to the left of Mt. Apo." To the south and southwest of Mt. Apo, and west of Digos, are seven settlements, the inhabitants of which are known as Obo or Tigdapaya. On the south they meet the Bila-an, and, like this latter people, extend over the watershed into the valley of the Cotabato river.