Note 15 — Chapter II

If on a comparison of the grammar and dictions of these two languages it is found that they originate from one and the same tongue, I would be so bold as to say that the Indians of Philipinas originate from the Indians of South America, and that the language of the latter is the parent language of which all the languages of these islands are dialects. Many will consider this a paradox, for the Malays being so near it would appear that the Filipinos must have originated from them, as our authors have generally believed. I cannot deny that these islands could have been easily settled by the Malays; but how shall we account for the peopling of the islands of Palaos and Marianas which are more than three hundred leguas distant? Where shall we get at those who settled the islands of San Duisk and Otayti, which are two thousand leguas from Philipinas? All these people have the same language, the same features, the same customs, and consequently, the same origin as our Indians. It is impossible that people should go from Philipinas to people those lands, for the east wind dominates constantly throughout the torrid zone, and that wind blowing head on would not permit the ship to sail to those islands. Rather on the contrary we must believe that the inhabitants of all the islands of the South Sea came from the Orient with wind astern as we have seen happen to the Indians of Palaos,15 who have come to our Philipinas several times driven by the wind, and the east winds have not allowed them to return to their land. Let us suppose that if then these islands were not peopled, those Indians would have been the first settlers. We do not know whether our Indians by a like accident, have been carried by the winds to the Oriental islands. On the contrary we believe the opposite, since at times the best pilots cannot make that navigation, and return without finding the islands whither they were sailing, as it is necessary to take a high latitude for that voyage. On this head we must seek the easiest solution, namely, that the settlers came from the east from island to island. Consequently, the most eastern land where the Tagálog language is found must be the country whence our Indians originate.