quistadors and settlers
arrived at these islands and subdued that of Manila, they found
three varieties or kinds of people in them. Those who held command
of it [i.e., the island of Manila], and inhabited the seashore and
river-banks and all the best parts round about, were Moro Malays
of Borney (according to their own report). That is an island also,
and is larger than any of these Filipinas and nearer the mainland of
Malaca, where there is a district called Malayo. [2] This place is
the origin of all the Malays who are scattered throughout the most
and best of all these archipelagoes. From that nation of the Malays
springs that of the Tagalogs, who are the natives of Manila and its
neighborhood. That is proved by the Tagalog language, which resembles
the Malay closely; by the color and lines of the whole body; by the
clothing and habit that they wore at the arrival of the Spaniards
here; and lastly by the customs and ceremonies, all of which were
derived from the Malays and other nations of India. The occasion of
their coming to these parts might have been either that they were
driven by chance through these seas (as we have seen in our days,
borne to these islands people from other unknown islands, who spoke a
language that no one understood, and who had been driven by the sea);
or they could have come hither purposely in the search for new lands on
which to settle, because their own were too crowded, or some disaster
had overtaken them which caused them to leave their home forever. But
it is very likely that greed and commercial interests attracted them,
as occurred in the parts of India with regard to the Moros, Persians,
and Arabs. The Portuguese say in their histories that when they reached
those kingdoms they found the Moros uppermost and masters of all,
by reason of the commerce which they introduced among the heathen
kings and rulers, the natives of the country, whose goodwill the
Moros contrived to secure with rich and valuable presents. Little
by little they continued to remain in the land and pay the royal
duties, until they became so powerful that they revolted against
the real rulers and deprived them of the best of their lands. Barros
[3] says that the first Portuguese found that that had happened in
those districts of India some hundred and fifty years before their
arrival. In the same way one may imagine the passage of the Malays
to Borney to have occurred, and of the Borneans to Manila; and that
along