The Mohammedan Malays, called Moros, are found here and there along the western coast of the Zamboanga peninsula and along the southern coast of the island as far as Davao.

They also extend far up the Cotabato River and occupy the Lake Lanao region, but that is all.

The interior of the island is for the most part occupied by the members of a number of non-Christian, non-Mohammedan tribes, while its northern and eastern coasts are inhabited by Visayan Filipinos, of whom there are many in Zamboanga itself.
While, as Blount says, the Moros took no part in the insurrection against the United States, the Visayans of Mindanao did, and we had some lively tussles with them in Misamis and in Surigao.
It is indeed unthinkable that we should turn Mindanao over to the Moros.

Abandonment of it by us would in the end result in this, as they would take possession of the entire island in the course of time.

Neither the other wild tribes nor the Filipinos could stand against them.