26. Now then, coming to our theme, when the conquistadors 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 Tagálogs, who are the natives of Manila and its neighborhood. That is proved by the Tagálog 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 with the arms and temporal commerce would come some caciques, [4] or priests of the cursed Mahometan religion, who introduced that religion into the villages and maritime nations of these parts. As for me I can readily believe that that great island of Borney in past centuries was continued on the northeast by Paragua, and on the south [5] by the lands near Mindanao, as is indicated by the shoals and islets of Paragua on the one side, and those called Santa Juana and