In Chili they frequently double the syllables in forming a word, as ytayta, biobio, lemolemo, colocolo, &c. and this occurs in the Tagala language; for instance, we say ataata, bilobilo, lebomlebom, colocolo. A great many other words are either actually of Tagalic derivation, or assimilate closely to that language. In examining the structure of these two languages we are compelled to conclude that they flow from one and the same source, and I dare affirm that the Indians of the Philippines are descended from the aborigines of Chili and Peru, and that the language of these islands derives immediately from the parent source, those of the neighbouring islands being dialects of this. Many will urge the absurdity of this supposition, on the plea that the more immediate vicinity of the Philippines to Malacca must have occasioned them to be colonized by the Malays, as our historians generally assert. I do not deny that these islands could easily have been peopled by the Malays, but how could they colonize the Isles de Palaos and Marianas, which are distant more than three hundred leagues? and it is still more improbable that they colonized the islands of San Duisk and Otaheite, which are distant two thousand leagues from the Philippines. All these people, however, have the same language, the same manners and customs, and consequently the same origin as our Indians. There is, in my opinion, this other reason for supposing these latter islands could not be peopled from the westward, viz. that in all the torrid zone the east wind generally prevails, which being in direct opposition to the course from Malacca and the adjacent islands, it is fair to conclude that the inhabitants of all the islands of the South Sea came from the east, sailing before the wind; for we have seen it often happen, that the Indians from the Palaos have arrived at the Philippines, precisely under those circumstances. On the contrary, we have no instance on record, of any of the Philippine Indians having been, even by accident, carried by the winds to the islands to the eastward. Indeed we know the reverse of this to be true, since at times the most experienced pilots, in attempting this navigation, have been compelled to return, without falling in with the islands they went in search of, from the necessity there is in the voyage of being provided with proper nautical instruments. Here, therefore, we appear to have found the most probable solution of our difficulties, that is, that the first settlers came out of the east, we may presume from the coast of South America, and proceeding gradually to the westward through the Pacific Ocean, studded as we find it with islands, and clusters of islands, at no very great distance from each other, and of course of easy access before the wind, it follows that to whatever point, in an eastern direction, we can trace the Tagalic language, we may conclude that at that point emigration must have commenced. Some however dissent from this, on the