until the Spaniards established themselves so strongly in
Ternate that, checked by that, as a bulwark of the islands, the Moro
chiefs did not attempt to pass farther, being content with placing
their domestic affairs in safety without risking it for foreign
[gains].

There are black negroes in this island, who pay tribute to no one. They
resemble those of the island of Negros, and of the uplands about
Manila, called Aetas. They live more like brute beasts than like
men, and they flee from the sight of all, doing ill to whomever they
can. They recognize no village, nor in a land of so many inclemencies
do they have any other shelter than that of the trees. They can be
seen daily in the bay of Pangil. In the village of Layauan, where I
was making the visitation, there appeared to be many of them. They
have no other adornments than those which they inherited from nature;
and pay so scant respect to decency that they do not secure even what
is requisite. Their arms are the bow and arrows dipped in poisons,
which they know and with which they prepare the arrows. It appears
probable, from what we know of other islands, where these people are
found gathered in the most inaccessible mountains, that these are the
first ones that occupied all these islands; but, as they are more
ancient and are so shut in, nothing more is known of their origin
than what is evident from this land, connected by its islands in a
chain with those of Burney, Macacar, and Great Maluco. This nation
maintains only one excellence--at the cost, [however,] of its brutal
condition and wretched mode of life--namely, its liberty. No power,
not even that of our Spaniards, has been able to subjugate them. They
are so free in their indomitable barbarism that they will not suffer
any subordination among them, not even that which fraternal feeling
for their own people might bring about if they recognized dignities
or any organized form of social life. [51]

The Lutaos of Jolo have all their communication with the Borneans,
raising the trident of their king [52] in the villages of that enormous
island. There they are judged to be one people [with the Borneans],
and are declared such by the fraternal intercourse that they maintain
among themselves--being related by marriage, and conspiring together
with their arms for the invasion of these islands, where their
squadrons are seen daily under one and the same banner.

But the rulers and nobility of all the islands o