The God Culture: The 1582 Voyage That Destroys The Philippines Lequios Theory

Timothy Jay Schwab who is The God Culture has a serious problem. Tim's misrepresentation of primary sources undermines his already shaky academic integrity. His continuous distortion of facts excavated out of obscure books indicates he is less interested in the truth and more concerned with his agenda. Tim's article about the voyage of Francis de Ovalle is a prime example of his deceptive practices. 

The 1582 Voyage that Destroys the Ryukyu Lequios Theory

When geography tells the truth… and historians ignore it.

🔎 Forgotten Navigator, Critical Discovery

In 1582, a lesser-known Spanish navigator, Francis de Ovalle, unknowingly shattered centuries of cartographic confusion. His voyage from Acapulco to the Philippines and back, documented in the 1704 edition of The History of Navigation, includes a pivotal observation:

"…passed through the islands called Lequios… and came upon the coast of California in 38 degrees and a half of latitude."

(Churchill, 1704, p. 466)

Let that sink in. Ovalle sailed from Macao through the Lequios and then reached California at 38.5°N — without touching land along the way.

🧭 The Geography That Cannot Lie

We traced his route using his precise navigation data. Here's what we found:

📍 Macao sits at 22.2°N. One exits the bay South of Hainan toward the East (18°N).

📍 California at 38.5°N on a straight Northeast trajectory touching no land.

📍 Philippines lie directly in this corridor (13–21°N).

📍 Ryukyu Islands? Way off course at 24–29°N, east of Taiwan — unreachable on a straight northeast run from Macao to California.

So what? If Ovalle sailed through Lequios and never deviated from that northeast heading, there is no geographic possibility that he passed through Ryukyu. His line of travel crossed the Philippines, not Japan.

https://thegodculturephilippines.com/the-1582-voyage-that-destroys-the-ryukyu-lequios-theory/

I know Tim reads this blog. On May 28th, 2025, I published an article that had the exact quote he is using from Churchill. That book leads to the original source, which is Richard Hakluyt. I included what Hakluyt wrote about that voyage in the same article. You can read all that here. This same voyage was also written about in a second article published on May 29th concerning Navarrete's "Logbook."

Hakluyt is not the primary source of Francis de Ovalle's voyage. That would be Jan Huygen van Linschoten.

Francisco Gali (1539 in Seville – 1586 in Manila) was a Spanish sailor and cartographer, active in the second half of the 16th century across the Pacific Ocean and in New Spain and Spanish East Indies, particularly Philippines. He is best known for his three trans-Pacific crossings: Acapulco to Manila in 1583, Macau to Acapulco in 1584 and in 1585 again Acapulco to Manila, where he died. At least the last trip was by order of the Spanish viceroy of New Spain, Pedro Moya de Contreras. His journeys were on the Manila galleons which had started the route in 1565.

For reasons unknown, Gali's report on the Macau-Acapulco journey fell into the hands of Jan Huygen van Linschoten who included that information in his Itinerario (1596).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco_Gali

Jan Huygen van Linschoten's original Itinerario can be read here. It was published in 1596. Two years later an English translation was published. That is the basis for Hakluyt which is the basis for and reference in Churchill. 

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433023691789&seq=116&q1=

That is from page 466, the same page Tim cites. Had he bothered to check the reference he would have been led to the full story just as I was. That story says Francis Guallé, which is the same as Gali and de Ovalle, sailed southwest from Macao to circumvent the strong current, then north east around Taiwan, through the Lequios Islands, past Japan, and then towards America. Tim omits ALL of that crucial information saying:

His line of travel crossed the Philippines, not Japan.

That is false and Tim knows it. Here is the rest of the story from the English translation of Jan Huygen van Linschoten.

The 54. Chapter.

The Navigation or course of the aforesaid Francis Guallé out of the Haven of Macau in New Spain, with the description and situation of the Isles, with other notable and memorable things concerning the same voyage.

When we had prepared ourselves and taken our leaves of our friends in Macau, we set sail upon the The four and twentieth of July, holding our course Southwest, and Southwest and by South, when the moon was at the full; for when the moon increaseth it is hard holding the course between the Islands, because in the river are and streams become very strong to the North, for we sailed through many narrow Channels by night, having the depth of eight and ten fathom, with soft muddy ground; until we were about the Island Oha, before we were past it, but by the height we knew we were past them.

Being beyond it, we held our course East and East by east, an hundred and fifty miles, to get above the lands called Os Bancos dos Pescadores, and the beginning of the Islands Lequios on the East side; and the Islands are called As Illas Fermosas, that is, the fair Islands; this I understood by a Chinar called, Santy of Chinchon, and he said that they lie under 21 degrees; from there it is thirteen fathom deep, although we saw them not, not withstanding by the height, by the water, we knew we were past them.

Being past the fair Islands, we held our course East and East and by South, for two hundred and forty miles, until we were past the length of the Islands Lequios, sailing about fifty miles from them, as the said Chinar told me, that those islands called Lequios are very many, and that they have many and very good Harbours, and that the people and inhabitants thereof have their faces and bodies painted like the Bysayas of the Islands of Luzon of  Philippines, and are appareled like the Bysayas, and that there are also mines of gold; he said likewise that they did often come with small ships and barkes laden with Bucks and Harts hides; and with gold in grains of very small pieces, to trade with them on the coast of China, which be assured me to be most true, saying that he had been nine times in the small Island, bringing of the same wares with him to China; which I believe to be true, for that afterwards I inquired thereof at Macau, and upon the coast of China, and found that he said true. The furthest or uttermost of these Islands both Northward and Eastward lie under 29 degrees.

Being past these Islands, then you come to the Islands of Japon whereof the first lying West and South is the Island of Hirado, where the Portuguese use to trade. They [the Japanese islands] are in length altogether one hundred and thirty miles, and the furthest Eastward, lies under thirty-two degrees [latitude]. We ran still East, and East by North, until we were past the said one hundred and thirty miles.

Running this East, and East by North for about three hundred miles from Japan, we found a very deep water, with the current running out of the North and Northwest, with a full and very broad sea, without any hindrance or trouble in the way that we passed, and whatever wind blew, the Sea continued all in one [direction], with the same deep water and current, until we had passed seven hundred miles, about two hundred miles from the coast and land of New Spain, where we began to lose the said deep sea and current, whereby I most assuredly think and believe, that there you shall find a Channel or straight passage, between the firm land and New Spain, and the Countries of Asia and Tartaria. Likewise, all this way from the aforesaid seven hundred miles, we found a great number of whale fishes, and other fish by the Spaniards called Atun [tuna], whereof many are found in the coast of Gibraltar in Spain, as also Albacore and Bonitos, which are all fishes, which commonly keep in Channels, Straits, and running waters, where to disperse their feed when they breed, which makes me more assuredly believe, that thereabouts is a Channel or Straight to pass through.

Being by the same course upon the coast of New Spain, under seven and thirty degrees and a half, we passed by a very high and fair land with many Trees, wholly without Snow, and four miles from the land you find thereabouts many roots, leaves of Trees, Reeds, and other leaves like Fig leaves, the like whereof we found in great abundance in the country of Japan, which they eat, and some of those that we found, I caused to be boiled with flesh, and being boiled, they eat like Coleworts [cabbage]. There likewise we found a great many of Sea wolves, which we call Sea dogs, whereby it is to be presumed and certainly to be believed, that there are many Rivers, Bays, and Havens along those coasts to the Haven of Acapulco. 

From thence we ran Southeast, Southeast by South, and Southeast by East, as the wind allowed us, to the point called Cape San Lucas, which is the beginning of the land of California; on the Northwest side, lying under twenty-two degrees, being five hundred miles distant from Cape Mendocino.

Along this course of five hundred miles, along the coast, there are many islands, and although they are small, yet undoubtedly they have some good harbors, as also on the mainland, where you have these harbors following, now lately discovered, such as that of Saint Augustine Island, lying under thirty and a half degrees. And the island called Cedros Island, scarcely under twenty-eight and a quarter degrees. And the island lying beneath Saint Martin, under twenty-three and a half degrees. I think all this coast and country is inhabited, and appears to be a very good country, for at night we saw fire, and by day smoke, which is a very sure sign that they are inhabited.

Iohn Huighen van Linschoten his Discours of voyages into ye Easte & West Indies : deuided into foure bookes, pg. 414

This entire chapter contradicts Tim's theory on every level and he omitted it. He purposefully omitted the route, which follows Macao-Taiwan-Lequois Islands-Japan. That makes the map Tim has added with a route bypassing Japan, wholly fictitious. The map is a visual manifestation of Tim's selective interpretation and misrepresentation of the primary source material.

He also left out the description of the Lequois Islands' inhabitants who are clearly described and compared to the Visayans of Luzon. They are not Filipinos. Lastly, he discarded the fact the Lequios Islands extend to 29° which agrees with Pinto who wrote:

Essa ilha léquia jaz situada em vinte e nove graus

https://fundar.org.br/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/peregrinacao-vol-ii.pdf pg. 53

The voyage of Francis Guallé predates Pinto's published journal by decades. That is two independent eye-witnesses to the Lequios Islands being at 29°. Tim loves to quote the following Bible verses as an epistemological foundation.  

Deut. 19:15 KV "at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established." 

Matt. 18:16 KJV "in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established." 

2 Cor. 13:1 KJV "In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established." 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfieRo5Pkac&lc=Ugy7pRaRww2XWoR2YPx4AaABAg

Therefore 29° is an established fact. 

I challenge Tim to publish the full story of Francis de Ovalle's voyage. It is doubtful he will do so because there is no way he can twist it to fit his thesis. It would also expose his article for what it is: a deliberate misrepresentation of the facts. 

As I said, I know Tim reads this blog. He has responded to it directly in the past. In this case, he took a source I cited first and has deliberately misrepresented it to fit his false thesis that the Philippines are the Lequios Islands. That thesis is fundamentally misguided and his article is a deliberate fabrication. No amount of crying libel and defamation will change the fact that the intellectual integrity of Timothy Jay Schwab who is The God Culture is severely compromised. 

The God Culture: The Lucrative Ryukyuan Shell Trade

Timothy Jay Schwab who is The God Culture believes documenting trade items will locate the Lequios Islands in the Philippines. According to an obscure article in a French journal the Japanese constructed their windows out of shells instead of glass. These shells originated in the Lequios Islands thus the Philippines is the Lequios Islands. 

https://thegodculturephilippines.com/the-shell-trade-of-lequios----and-why-it-was-never-ryukyu/

In a curious but revealing 19th-century reference found in Annales archéologiques (T.24, 1864), French scholars noted that the Japanese had historically used shells from the islands of Lequios as a substitute for glass in windows. The quotation reads:

“The Japanese, says M. Vosgien, use large shells instead of window glass, which they obtain from the islands of Lequios, where this material is widely traded.”

That is an interesting piece of information but watch what Tim does next. 

At first glance, this might seem like a simple remark on a historical trade pattern. But as we examine it more closely — and interrogate what materials were being traded, where they originated, and who could have supplied them — it becomes another key entry in the growing list of hard evidence that “Lequios” never referred to the Ryukyu Islands, but rather to the Philippines, and specifically to its northern and central trade networks.

Let’s explore why.

🐚 1. What Were These “Shell Windows”?

Before modern glass became widely available in Asia, many societies employed translucent natural materials for windows — especially in temples, colonial structures, or elite homes. In the Philippines, the most iconic version of this is the capiz shell window.

Capiz shells, from the marine bivalve Placuna placenta, are uniquely thin, nearly transparent, yet sturdy. These shells are easily flattened and cut, making them perfect for creating panes. They give off a pearlescent glow when sunlight passes through — both practical and aesthetic.

Such windows became standard in Spanish-era Filipino homes, particularly in Luzon and the Visayas. Even today, capiz shell windows remain a cultural emblem of the Philippines.

Do you see what Tim has done? He has side-stepped Japan and has started discussing FILIPINO HOMES!  In no part of this article does Tim discuss Japanese home construction. This is a classic bait and switch. Tim concludes his article like this:

There is no recorded shell trade from Ryukyu to Japan using capiz or similar shells — because those shells simply don’t exist there.

That is false. There was a very robust shell trade in the Ryukyu Islands. 

What would have been the main economic incentive to residing in the Ryukyu islands during the thirteenth or fourteenth centuries? As rugged islands with thin soil and limited sources of fresh water, Ryukyu did not inspire people to come there and stay for the agriculture. Fishing and related harvesting of sea products could have supported small villages, and the shell trade was lucrative into the thirteenth century. Other than sea-shells, however, local natural resources were not sufficient to support large concentrations of population and power, especially in Okinawa and Sakishima.

Gregory Smits - Maritime Ryukyu, 1050–1650, pg 36

Using gravity as a metaphor, from around 1500 onward Shuri became a massive center, bending the space around the Ryukyu islands and pull- ing them all into its orbit. By the time the official histories were written, it was probably inconceivable that early Ryukyuan history could be anything other than centered on Okinawa, especially the Urasoe-Shuri-Naha region. Modern works have almost all followed this pattern, locating the earliest traces of Ryukyuan history in the island of Okinawa. As we have seen, however, the early center of population, economic vigor, advanced material culture, military power, and more within the Ryukyu islands were the three northernmost islands, with Kikai as the administrative center. This Northern Tier was a human and cultural junction between the Japanese islands, the Korean peninsula, probably coastal China, and possibly elsewhere.

The best turbo shells were found in the northern Ryukyu islands. As demand for this product increased, the shell trade expanded southward, setting the stage for the gradual emergence of centers of population and power in and around the harbors of Okinawa.

Gregory Smits - Maritime Ryukyu, 1050–1650, pgs 248-247

More than anything else, the geographic location of the Ryukyu Islands shaped their impact on the East China Sea region. First, the islands were the only location in the region where turbo shells were present. Many other valuable shells and southern island products were found most abundantly in the Ryukyu Islands, even if present in other locations. 

Gregory Smits - Early Ryukyuan History_ A New Model, pg. 263

Green Turban or Turbo Shells look like this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turbo_marmoratus

They were used as decoration in Japan. 

In fact, the Shōyūki recorded that in the 1020s, local governors of southern Kyūshū presented to the author, a court aristocrat, local specialties of the southern islands including the Chinese fan palm, redwoods, and shells of Green Turban Shell. The Shinsarugakuki, a fictional work written in the mid-11th century, introduced a merchant named Hachirō-mauto, who traveled all the way to the land of the Fushū in the east and to Kika Island (貴賀之島, Kikanoshima) in the west. The goods he obtained from the southern islands included shells of Green Turban Shell and sulfur. The Shinsarugakuki was not mere fiction; the Golden Hall of Chūson-ji (c. 1124) in northeastern Japan was decorated with tens of thousands of green turban shells.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryukyu_Islands

Smits also mentions other shells which were found abundantly in the Ryukyu Islands which were part of the trade. 

For Tim to say there was "no recorded shell trade from Ryukyu to Japan" is to reveal his ignorant assumptions and lack of research. Tim might counter by noting the source I have cited says "the shell trade was lucrative into the thirteenth century" therefore these shells cannot be the ones referred to in the French Journal because the trade had dried up. Smits does not indicate the trade dropped off completely. There are also other things to consider regarding Lequios trade routes. 

Here is the full context of Tim's citation.

This mother-of-pearl, rippled by the rays of the sun, must produce a charming effect applied to the defense and decoration of windows in the Far East. We easily understand that its use, though somewhat costly, is still preferred to glass, plus fragility and a much higher price. But glass is transparent and mother-of-pearl is not. It is true that, as elsewhere in China, we will soon see that the use of glass, in ancient domestic architecture, was very backward in Europe compared to the advanced Middle Ages, and that paper, as in the north of China and in Korea, had been used for a long time in our countries.

In a section of the great work of Pierre Le Vieil on painting on glass, we found a related passage about these mother-of-pearl and tortoiseshell enclosures that is in question, and which he himself used. This fact seemed so uninteresting to us that it was not reported, although the travelers who mentioned it did not deserve it, say learned scholars, an entire confidence.

Here is the passage from Le Vieil's book: «We do not lack examples of shells used for windows instead of glass. The Japanese, says Mr. Vosgien, use, instead of glass, large shells they get from the Lequios Islands, where it's a great trade. Mr. Abbé Prévost says that the Chinese used them in the construction of their buildings, the shell of a large oyster that one finds in the Canal de Chan-To; that the Portuguese who work with such finesse, who make them produce reflections suitable for the transparency of glass.

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=ucm.5324610535&seq=277&q1=lequios

There is a note on this text which refers to Geographical Dictionary by Vosgien.

"LEQUIOS, name of several Islands of the West. It has six principal ones & several small ones, tributaries of the King of Saxuma. The inhabitants govern themselves by their own laws, & have their Emperor like the Japanese. They are gentle & very fond of music. The Islands are very abundant. A large trade is made there in large shells, which the Japanese use instead of glass. They are cut obliquely at 145 d. of longitude, towards 26 & 27 of latitude."

Dictionnaire géographique, pg. 310

There is not much information in this article or dictionary about the trade in sea shells in the Lequios Islands. However, the journal indicates the shells being used for windows are "mother-of-pearl and tortoiseshell." What can be determined definitely from the dictionary is that the Lequios Islands are not the Philippines. This dictionary was written in 1749 and the Philippines was not a tributary of the King of Saxuma at that time or ever. Tim completely ignores this footnote but has the gall to claim:

Whether intentionally or accidentally, Vosgien, Prévost, and Le Vieil preserved a sliver of truth in the shell trade — a truth that affirms the Philippines, not Okinawa, as the real “Lequios.”

Vosgien, who is quoted by Le Vieil, does not support Tim's claim the Philippines is "the real Lequios." 

Tim writes:

This conclusion is further supported by:

• Pigafetta’s journals noting “Lequios” junks arriving from Luzon from northeast of Cebu.

That is not what Pigafetta writes. He doesn't say Lequios junks travel from Luzon.  He says Lequios junks travel to Luzon.

Two days' journey thence to the northwest is found a large island called Lozon, where six or eight junks belonging to the Lequian people go yearly.

The Philippine Islands, Vol. 33, pg, 207

That means the Lequios Islands were engaged in trade with the Philippines. If the shells used in Japanese windows were Capiz shells it would not be surprising if they were obtained from the Lequios who obtained them from the Philippines. The Ryukuyan Islands were engaged in trade with the entire East and Southeast Asian region.

In the spring of 1609, the Ryukyu kingdom 琉球王国 was defeated by an invasion by the Satsuma domain of Japan, ruled by the Shimazu 島津 family. King Shō Nei 尚寧 and major Ryukyuan officials were marched off to Satsuma as prisoners of war. In response to the daimyo’s report on the invasion, the Tokugawa bakufu recognized Satsuma’s control over Ryukyu. The Tokugawa authorities, thus, brought Ryukyu, a kingdom that had maintained tributary relations with Ming China since the latter half of the fourteenth century, within the political orbit of Tokugawa Japan. From then until 1879, when the Meiji government abolished the kingdom and annexed Ryukyu into Japan as Okinawa Prefecture, the Ryukyu kingdom accepted both Chinese and Japanese claims of suzerainty.

In the fifteenth century, Ryukyu, acquiring a huge stock of Chinese commodities through the tribute trade, actively developed a state-run transit trade with the countries of East and Southeast Asia. Because the Ming interdiction of seafaring resulted in the general suppression of Chinese maritime trade, Ryukyu could sell Chinese products in short supply to East and Southeast Asia, while delivering products from these other countries to the Ming empire. The kingdom’s main trading port was Naha. Commercial ships from East and Southeast Asia visited the port, and some seafarers settled there 

Residents of Kumemura performed services such as interpretation, composing diplomatic documents in Chinese, building ships, and sailing, thus supporting Ryukyu’s diplomacy and trade not only with Ming China but also with Korea and other countries of Southeast Asia.

 The Tokugawa World, pgs. 420-422

The article Tim cites says the Chinese used shells in construction of buildings.  

Mr. Abbé Prévost says that the Chinese used them in the construction of their buildings, the shell of a large oyster that one finds in the Canal de Chan-To

That is another possible source for the shells used in Japanese windows. There is a whole network of trade routes which Tim ignores in his foolish and misguided quest to prove the Philippines are the Lequios Islands. Tim says Capiz shells are endemic to the Philippines. That means they are found nowhere else. 

Capiz shells are endemic to the Philippines.

Thus, if shells from Lequios were used in Japan for window construction, and the only shell species capable of this function is capiz, the source must have been the Philippines, not Okinawa.

That is wrong. These shells, known as Placuna Placenta, are widely distributed in the Indo-West Pacific. 

THE LIVING MARINE RESOURCES OF THE WESTERN CENTRAL PACIFIC VOLUME 1 Seaweeds, corals, bivalves and gastropods, pg. 218

Distribution: Widespread in the tropical Indo-West Pacific, from the Gulf of Aden to eastern Indonesia; north to Taiwan Province of China and south to Queensland.

These shells could have been sourced from China or Taiwan both of which are close to the Lequios Islands. 

Fishery Resources of the Philippine Islands published in 1909 mentions Japanese shell windows or screens. 

These shells make a most attractive and useful screen, made up either in three divisions in the usual form of the Japanese screen, or else in a single division like the Spanish screen.

https://archive.org/details/cu31924009156328/page/300/mode/2up

These screens are called Shoji.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoji

They can be made from paper or Capiz shells. But since Tim does not discuss Japanese home construction despite referencing Japanese home construction as his proof for the Lequios being the Philippines the topic will not be explored further. 

Tim's new article about Japanese shell windows proving the Lequios Islands are the Philippines is full of ignorance. His main proof is Japanese windows but he ignores them and begins discussing Philippine windows instead. He ignores Ryukyuan trade networks which involved shells. He ignores the footnoted reference in the journal he cites. He ignores the broad historical context which places the Lequios Islands north of the Philippines near Japan. He ignores the wide distribution of Capiz shells. Ultimately this article does not prove anything except the ignorance of Timothy Jay Schwab who is The God Culture. 

The God Culture: Filipino Satyrs

Timothy Jay Schwab who is The God Culture is nothing if not regular. Once again Tim has decided to base his unassailable case that the Lequios Islands are the Philippines on a footnote. The last time Tim did this he failed to find the original source and it turned out his analysis was methodologically unsound and wrong. Today's footnote is found in a book by Fr. Joaquín Martínez de Zúñiga.

https://thegodculturephilippines.com/lequios-revealed-when-jesuits-nearly-admitted-the-truth-about-luzon/

In the mid-18th century, as the Jesuit order was still shaping the geographic and political narratives of the East, a quiet but powerful crack appeared in their version of history. In Fr. Joaquín Martínez de Zúñiga’s Estadismo de las Islas Filipinas, he quotes the renowned Jesuit geographer Fr. Murillo Velarde, who openly contemplates an alternative origin for the mysterious people called the Lequios. Contrary to the narrative pushed by later European interpreters—placing the Lequios in the Ryukyu Islands—Velarde suggests that Lequios may actually have referred to Luzon itself. He states:

Estas, ó no se conocieron en lo antiguo, ó se llamaron Lequios; y si yo quisiera discurrir arbitrariamente, esforzaría la conveniencia nominal de Lequio á Luzón.”

(“These [islands], either were unknown in ancient times, or were called Lequios; and if I were to speculate arbitrarily, I would stress the nominal convenience of Lequio to Luzon.”)

Here, behind scholarly caution, lies a powerful admission: Jesuits knew the Ryukyu identification was not ironclad, and some, like Velarde, acknowledged the Philippines—specifically northern Luzon—fit the evidence far better. This is the classic profile of a Smoking Quill moment: when a trusted authority begins to question the dogma and offers a truer path—only for that insight to be buried in academic footnotes or dismissed entirely by those with other agendas. It is rather hard to believe so many could look at a map and ignore the Philippines exists, yet that has become the norm today. Velarde did not.

Tim does not give the whole context by citing what Zúñiga was discussing. Here it is:

Father Murillo, in his Geografía, does not accept the hypothesis that the Maniolas were the Philippines, and states as a verified fact the existence in the Philippines of men with a tail (*). 

Wow! There are Filipino men that have tails!? Does Tim know that is part of the context of the passage? Here is the full citation from Murillo.

"(*) Murillo Velarde, Geografía, page 3: "Gerardo Mercator says that these Islands are Ptolemy's Barusas. Colin, that they are the Maniolas. These, either were not known in ancient times, or were called Lequios; and if I wanted to argue arbitrarily, I would force the nominal convenience of Lequio to Luzon." - Page 65: "...in the Mountains (of Mindoro) there are some men, who have a small tail like half a little finger; and here is the Island of the Satyrs, who if not in the tail, they are in their customs." - The Abbot Hervás says: "The rare phenomenon of the tail that some inhabitants of this island (Mindoro) have, consists of the prolongation of the coccyx or tailbone (as I explain in number 53 of my work entitled: el hombre físico). Said bone lengthens a few fingers, and perhaps a palm, and cannot be bent" Catal. de las lenguas, tomo II, pág. 26, núm. 134."

That is two testimonies that some Filipinos have tails. Velarde even says Mindoro "is the Island of the Satyrs." That is very interesting. Undoubtedly it is also a Smoking Quill proving lost and hidden knowledge about the Philippines which has now been recovered. But we cannot let the existence of Filipino Satyrs detract us from the issue of the Lequios Islands. Here is the original passage from Velarde.

Geographia historica, de las Islas Philipinas, del Africa, y de sus islas adyacentes: tomo VIII, pgs. .2-4

It does not seem that Charles V knew that the destiny of his Armadas was to be directed to this land, according to the dispositions of the Supreme Emperor of all creation; and thus, tenacious in his first idea, he dispatched a well-equipped Squadron in the year 1524, with Esteban Gomez, who shortly after, impeded by the weather, was to give warning, if they understood it, that the King's undertaking was misguided. Another was dispatched from Corunna with Don Frey Garcia Jofre de Loayfa in the year 1525, which was undone, like salt in water, by following paths different from those approved by God. In the year 1527, another Squadron from New Spain set sail with Alvaro de Saavedra, and not heading for these Islands, it was lost by straying. Spain had already abandoned the undertaking of the Moluccas when the undertaking of these Islands began. Don Antonio de Mendoza, Viceroy of New Spain, dispatched by order of the King on the first day of November 1542, from the Port of Navidad, five Ships, under the command of Ruy Lopez de Villalobos. He discovered Leyte, and in memory of Prince D. Phelipe, called these Islands Philipinas. Afterwards, the Squadron, undone by storms, wars, and misfortunes, died in Amboyna in the year 1546, with St. Francis Xavier at its head. Don Luis de Velasco, Viceroy of New Spain, prepared a Squadron of four Ships, which sailed on November 21, 1564, from those Coasts, coming under Captain Miguel Lopez de Legaspi, a man of known prudence. On January 9, 1565, the Islands of the Ladrones, now Marianas, were discovered, and the General took possession of them, and on April 27, the Armada arrived at Cebu. Those Islanders, and the other Natives of the neighboring Islands, were easily reduced; and Manila recognized the King of Spain. The reduction continued, and in a short time, Spanish dominion was established over the extended area of these Islands. 

Gerardo Mercator says that these Islands are Ptolemy's Barusas. Colin, that they are Maniolas. These, either were not known in ancient times, or were called Lequios; and if I wanted to argue arbitrarily, I would force the nominal convenience of Lequio to Luzon. Morga says that these Islands are 40. Lasfor, that there are at least one thousand two hundred: what a disproportionate distance! I say that they are neither so many, nor so few. In the year 1732, I made a Map of these Islands, by order of the King, and the Governor of them. This, then, will be the compass I follow in the description of this Archipelago. These Islands thus extend, entering only from 5 degrees and 59 minutes of North latitude up to more than 20, where the Babuyanes are, and from 156 degrees and 20 minutes, where the South-Western point of Palawan is, up to 165 degrees of East longitude, where Cape San Agustin of Mindanao is. This is so in said Map, and in Magellan's route. Leisle, Fer, Wit, and other modern Geographers agree with little difference in latitude; but in longitude, the variety they have is incredible.

The context is the discovery of the Philippine Islands. At first glance it seems that Velarde is equating the Lequios Islands with the Philippines, specifically Luzon. Velarde writes:

These, either were not known in ancient times, or were called Lequios

How would the Philippine Islands be known as Lequios in "ancient times" when Lequios is a 16th century European exonym? Velarde continues:

if I wanted to argue arbitrarily, I would force the nominal convenience of Lequio to Luzon.

Velarde admits his argument is arbitrary and the designation of Luzon as Lequio is forced. Why would it be forced and arbitrary? Because the totality of history points to the Lequios Islands as being to the north between Taiwan and Japan. Tim says Velarde is exercising scholarly caution.

Here, behind scholarly caution, lies a powerful admission: Jesuits knew the Ryukyu identification was not ironclad, and some, like Velarde, acknowledged the Philippines—specifically northern Luzon—fit the evidence far better.

Velarde does not say Lequios as Luzon fits the evidence better. What he says is his argument is arbitrary and forced. That is not a cloak of scholarly caution. That's an admission that Velarde is giving his own opinion.

Tim concludes his analysis of this footnote:

This is the classic profile of a Smoking Quill moment: when a trusted authority begins to question the dogma and offers a truer path—only for that insight to be buried in academic footnotes or dismissed entirely by those with other agendas. It is rather hard to believe so many could look at a map and ignore the Philippines exists, yet that has become the norm today. Velarde did not.

Velarde is not questioning anything. He is giving his own alternate hypothesis contrary to Mercator and Colin as to the identity of the Barusas, the Maniolas, and the Philippine Islands as known to ancient peoples, specifically Ptolemy. Do note that the reference is to "ancient times." He is interpreting the discovery of the Philippines as it pertains to ancient geographical knowledge. He is not interpreting the discovery within the framework of geographical knowledge which had been acquired by 1752 which is the date of his book's publication. Velarde admits his interpretation is arbitrary and forced.

This "insight", as Tim calls it, is not "buried in academic footnotes." Velarde's Geografica is still available thanks to the invention of the U.S. Department of Defense's Cold War military defense system called the internet. But even if there were no internet a competent The God Culture research team would be able to access a hardcopy in a library. That's what research teams do if they exist.

Now, let's look at what Velarde has to say about Filipino Satyrs.

Luzòn, Ambil, and Isla de Cabras, are at the Ocafo of the point of Santiago, and on land, which they come to defend the Pataches of the Coast. Martaban, and Isla Vera, are above the Coast of Cafayfay, and Lobo. Mindoro, an Island, large, and 70 leagues in circumference. Baco, on the North Coast, is the Head, and residence of the Corregidor. To the Northeast are the Islands of Baco. Near the East of Baco are Calapàn and the Southeast of Calapàn, Naojàn; and to the Southeast of Naojàn, Pola, with an Ensenada, which can be a Surgidero for the Galleons, and in it the Sacred Family was lost. Subàn, on the Northeast Coast, at Poniente de Baco. In said Coast, to the South of Isla Verde, there are two Surgideros, which are called the Baradero, from where wood can be cut for the ship to repair something; and at the coming to wait for time to mount the point of the Escarceo. Minolo, at the Poniente del Baradero, from where the Island Mindoro is called, which before was called Mait. It is land of high mountains, and rough, full of forests, and groves, where the Manguianes live; and it is common knowledge, and the Corregidor of Mindoro confirmed it to me, that in the mountains there are some men, who have a small tail like half a little finger; and here is the Island of the Satyrs, who if not in the tail, they are in their customs. It is vulgarity.

Geographia historica, de las Islas Philipinas, del Africa, y de sus islas adyacentes: tomo VIII, pgs. 64-65 

That is a very fascinating observation which requires further investigation. What happened to the Filipino Saytrs who existed as late as 1752? 

Here is the second testimony regarding Filipino men with tails which is from from Abbott Hervas.

CHAPTER II.

LANGUAGES SPOKEN ON THE ISLANDS CALLED FORMOSA AND LIEU-KIEU (OR LEQUERO), ON THE ISLANDS OF JAPAN AND IN KOREA.

145 To the north of the Philippine Islands, and a short distance from them, is the island the Chinese call Tai-van, and which the Portuguese gave the name Formosa (that is, beautiful), which is like a very thick link in a long chain of islands called Legueyo and Legueyo, and properly Lieu-kieu, which reach as far as Japan. These are followed by the newly discovered Kurile Islands, and it seems that in other times they were a continuation of the peninsula of Kamchatka. The chain of said islands, which almost touches that peninsula, must have formerly been a continent with this and Korea. Of the languages of these named peoples, which in other times must have been united, we will discuss in the present article.

§. I.

Languages of the Island of Formosa, and of the Island of Lieu-kieu.

Struys, who was on the island of Formosa, and describes the character of its inhabitants, gives us no information about its language. He describes them as extremely crude, and barbarous ; and says (a) that some of them have tails: but this is the prolongation of the bone of the coccyx, which by hereditary disease grows in some oriental islands, according to what the diligent missionaries of the Philippine Islands have informed me, who have told me that in one of these, called Mindoro, there are some islanders who by hereditary disease have the tailbone long, which they cannot sit on the ground without a hole in it, and between that (134). Schulze says (b) that the language of the Island of Formosa resembles Japanese, and that it differs in vocal accents, with which the Formosans distinguish the tenses of verbs. They, adds Schulze, indicate or denote the present tense with the natural tone, and the past tense with a high tone, and the future tense with a high tone. Having read this news about the Formosan language, and having taken it in the Creed and the Our Father, with such a literal translation, which clearly distinguishes and knows the respective meaning of each word, I compared one by one with the correspondents in the Japanese language, which has good grammar and good vocabulary, and found no affinity between the Formosan and Japanese languages. Because the Formosans distinguish the tenses of verbs with the variety of vocal accents, according to Schulze, and many of the Chinese distinguish them by the many and various meanings they give to a same word (this does not happen with the Japanese with their words), I conjectured that the language of the island of Formosa, near China, was a Chinese dialect: but the comparison I made of the Formosan words with the corresponding Chinese ones, made me clearly realize that the Formosan language is also totally different from Chinese. In this advertisement I confirmed what I later read about the Formosan language in a letter from Doctor Josef Mailla, missionary in China, which says the following (a): "The Chinese, lords of nine populations of the island of Formosa, spoke it through a medium of interpreter; among the Formosans some books of the bible have been found in Dutch; and some islanders understood this language, because the Dutch had established themselves there before in Formosa, and from there they had taken possession after the Japanese established themselves in it. The successive domination of the Japanese and Dutch in Formosa gives news of the Chinese there, in which it is read (b): in the year 1659 the hong-maos (that is, the Dutch) were owners of Tai-van (that is, the island of Formosa) that the Japanese had already ceded. These had also taken possession of Tai-van in the first year of Emperor Tien-ki, and shortly after the hong-maos disembarked in Tai-van, of which a part belonged to the Chinese."

The script of the Formosan language is unknown to me, though it is likely one of the three distinct languages spoken in the nearby Lieu-kieu (Ryukyu) Islands. Formosans use an alphabet, which I will publish in my Universal Paleography; their writing runs vertically, like Chinese or Japanese, but from right to left.

CATALOGUE OF LANGUAGES

From Formosa, we proceed to the islands nearest Japan, called Lieu-kieu (Ryukyu) by the Chinese and Lieou-kieou by French Jesuit missionaries in China. These 36 islands—the largest named Lieu-kieu—lie between Formosa and Japan, so closely spaced that one could reach Japan from Formosa in a small boat, passing daily by islands and promontories. These are likely the peaks of a submerged mountain chain that once connected Japan to Formosa, which itself was linked to China’s Fujian Province.

Catálogo de las lenguas de las naciones conocidas, y numeracion, division, y clases de estas segun la diversidad de sus idiomas y dialectos. v.2, pgs. 53-56

This is a bonus testimony from Hervas which not only discusses Filipino men with tails but explicitly says the Lequios are NORTH of the Philippines between Taiwan and Japan. He says they likely speak the same language as that on Formosa. This book was published in 1805 while Zúñiga’s book was published in 1893. So, as late as 1893 there are references to Filipinos with tails. Again, I ask, what happened to them?

It must be inserted here that Zúñiga’s book was originally published in 1803. An English translation was published in 1814. The 1893 edition contains extensive notes added by Wenceslao Emilio Retana. The footnote Tim is parading as proof for the Philippines being the Lequios Islands appears in Appendix B which is a bibliography beginning on page 93. The note is under Ptolemy which begins on page 295. In this same appendix on page 212 the Lequios Islands are listed as separate from the Philippines. 

«Of what they call Indian Islands of the West, which are the Islands of Spicery, Philippines, Coast of China, Japan, and the Lequios.» (55.)

Philippines: —Mindanao, abundant in Maize. (Understand this from the arrival of the Spaniards.) —Isla de Buenas Señales, and San Juan, «near Mindanao on the Eastern side, 20 leagues to the South.» —Bohol: —Buglas or Negros.

«Zebú: its See, «the Town of Jesus». —Matàn. —Oquindo, —Puluan, —Buruey. —Abuyo or Babay. —Tandalaya, «most famous of all, for being the first that was discovered, it is called Filipinas». —Masbat—to the west of Tandaya. —Panay. —Mindoro. —Luzón, called Nueva Castilla. «In all these islands there are many Mahometans, and when they arrived in the East Indies, they were easily able to plant their perfidy among those gentiles.»

There are actually three references to the Lequios Islands in this book. Two of them concern Velarde. This third one is a citation from Antonio de Herrera which can be found here on page 55. That edition was published in 1730 but it was originally published between 1601 and 1615. 

Herrera is most widely recognized for his Historia general de los hechos de los castellanos en las Islas y Tierra Firme del mar Océano que llaman Indias Occidentales, known as Décadas, which was published by Juan Flamenco and Juan de la Cuesta between 1601 and 1615, in four volumes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_de_Herrera_y_Tordesillas

There is a lot in and about this book by Zúñiga that Tim has not bothered to research. Instead he has decided to cling to a footnote in the appendix added by a different author decades later while ignoring the other reference to the Lequios Islands in the same appendix which predates the footnote by over 100 years. No matter how you slice it this book absolutely does not support any of Tim's claims. 

While Velarde's comments are interesting, his admittedly forced and arbitrary opinion is no "smoking quill" the Philippine Islands are the Lequios Islands. Especially when one considers the totality of evidence which has been documented on this blog. Evidence which Tim either ignores or distorts. More interesting than Velarde's comments about the Lequios Islands is what he has to say about Filipinos with tails. It's sad that such a facet of Filipino heritage has been suppressed for so long. But that is something which will likely never be discussed or revived by Timothy Jay Schwab who is The God Culture. 

The God Culture: Navarrete’s "Logbook”

Timothy Jay Schwab who is The God Culture is blowing the cobwebs off old manuscripts and looking for anything he can distort into assisting his cause of identifying the Lequios Islands with the Philippines. His latest catch is a manuscript by Don Martin Fernandez de Navarete. Before diving into Tim's comments let us read the full story. It is contained on pages 55-58. 

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=aeu.ark:/13960/t81j9zj6w&seq=8&q1=lequios

Added to all this was the necessity of finding and having a good port towards California, where ships coming from the Philippines to New Spain could be repaired and supplied, as they were often forced to put back into their port of origin due to storms or lack of provisions, causing serious harm to trade and navigation. With such views, Archbishop of Mexico D. Pedro Moya de Contreras, who governed as Viceroy, conceived the idea of exploring the entire northern coast of America, which some believed extended to border with the land of China, and others that it ended at the strait called Anian. The expedition was to resolve these doubts with new and reliable geographical knowledge. Two frigates had been ordered to be built in Acapulco for this purpose, and other provisions made, when Francisco Gali arrived from Macan or Macao, captain and chief pilot of a ship, a man of good standing in nautical science, with whom the Archbishop consulted his project. It seemed better to this expert that the expedition should be made from the Philippines, discovering and recognizing the islands of the Lequios and others neighboring Japan, ascending to the highest latitude that could be navigated, in order to properly discover the coast of New Spain in this way, and whether it was a continuation of that of the Asian continent; and finally, that for the execution of this plan it would be more advantageous for the ships to be built on the island of Mindoro. This expedition was also assigned to a certain Jayme Juan, inventor of some instruments for knowing the variation of the compass needle, which he was ordered to test. The Archbishop reported everything to the King; but the short interim nature of his government, which only lasted one year, and perhaps the tendency of those who take office not to follow the plans or ideas of their predecessors, meant that the great thoughts of that illustrious prelate did not come to fruition. 

The just concept that he formed of Gali, saying he was the most distinguished and trustworthy man there, and that in matters of cosmography and the art of navigation he could compete with the most select of Spain, has been confirmed by some writers who deal with the discoveries and routes of this navigator. We especially owe to a Dutchman the news of what Gali did in 1582 from Acapulco to the Philippines, from these islands to Macao, and from here to New Spain; on his last voyage, having departed Macao on July 24, and sailed to the SE. and ESE. due to strong currents to the NW., he passed through several narrow channels until he passed the island of Branco without having seen it. He continued to the ESE. one hundred and fifty leagues to reach where the islands of the Lequios begin, which are in 21¾° latitude, and from there he traveled two hundred and sixty leagues in a course to the E. and NE., until he passed said islands and headed for those of Japan, of which the most western and southern is called Firando, where the Portuguese trade; the extension of all of them being one hundred and thirty leagues, and the latitude of their easternmost point being 32°. Having passed these islands, and followed the same course up to three hundred leagues from Japan, he found a very spacious and deep sea with currents coming from the N. and NW., without these or that being altered by the wind, whatever its violence or direction, until having navigated seven hundred leagues he reached the coast of New Spain, in which place he no longer observed the currents nor the depth of the sea that up to then he had: which made Gali believe that there was the channel or strait between New Spain and Tartary or northern Asia. Also, throughout that seven hundred league journey, he found a large number of whales, tuna, albacore, and bonito, which are commonly fish that stay in channels where there are water currents: whose circumstances further confirmed his belief in the existence of the aforementioned strait in that area. Sailing in the same direction, he arrived near the coast of New Spain at the latitude of 57½°, and sighted a beautiful country¹ very populated with trees, and entirely without snow. At a distance of four leagues from the shores, he saw many roots, reeds, and leaves like fig trees floating, and he also found a large number of sea lions: inferring from this that there must have been many rivers, bays, and coves throughout the extension of that coast to Acapulco. From there, continuing to the SE. SSE., and sometimes to the ESE., he reached Cape San Lucas, which is the southern tip of California, at a latitude of 22° and five hundred leagues from Cape Mendocino.

The story is as follows. The Spanish need to find a port in California where ships from the Philippines can be repaired and resupplied on the way to New Spain. It is recommended that the expedition's ships be built in Mindoro. Francis Gali is chosen as Captain. His route is to depart from the Philippines, head for Macao, depart from Macao and head east south east against the current until he reached the Lequios Islands, follow them North to Japan, and then steer towards the coast of America. A side task of the journey was "discovering and recognizing the islands of the Lequios and others neighboring Japan." 

The departure FROM the Philippines to discover the Lequios Islands should be enough to indicate the twain are not the same. Of course Tim has some objections. 

1. Lequios begins (its Northern boundary meaning it is South of there) at 21¾° N — which corresponds precisely to the Batanes Islands maritime territory, as a border to southern Taiwan's. But... not Ryukyu, which lies between 24° and 27° N.

This journey happened in 1582. By 1573 the Batanes were already known according to Captain Diego de Artieda.

Captain Diego de Artieda describes the island of Luzon and mentions the Batanes, which Tim is now claiming to be the Lequios Islands, though not by that name. A few pages later he mentions the Lequios Islands and says they are in-between Japan and China. That is clearly the Ryukyu Islands.    

Farther to the northeast of Masbat lies the island of Ybalon or Luzon. It is a large island, with many rivers, in which gold is found--although, as I have ascertained, in but little quantity, because its most influential inhabitants are Moros. While I was in Panae, [S:the leading man among its people] sent a Moro, his steward or treasurer to trade there; but he could hardly get for me one _marco_ of gold in exchange for four of silver, which he bought for me. Buffaloes are to be found here. We have [M: not] explored much of its coast, and I have seen no one who could inform me fully concerning its south-eastern, southern, and eastern parts, because no one has sailed around it. Between this island of Ybalon and that of Panae, lies Masbat. Farther on, and lying north and south, are some other small islands, in one of which is to be found much brazil-wood.

[62] Probably the _sibucao (Cæsalpina sapan_); its wood produces a red coloring-matter which is highly valued, especially by the Chinese. Some varieties of it are more highly esteemed than are those produced in Brazil. These "Brazil" Islands are apparently the small groups north of Luzón, now known as Batanes and Babuyanes.

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044077731628&seq=197&q1=lequios

Farther north than the aforesaid islands are others, the nearest to Luzon being called Xipon [S: Japan]. 

A little to the east between these islands and China are the islands of Lequios. They are said to be rich; but we have been unable to learn much about them, for I have not seen any one who has been there. For this reason I conclude that they must be small, and that the people are not much given to commerce.

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044077731628&seq=206&q1=lequios

If the Batanes are the Lequios Islands why would they need to be discovered when they were already known? Here is Tim's answer.

In 1825, Batanes was already under Spanish control. But Navarrete’s call to “discover and recognize the islands of the Lequios” was not about finding them — it was about reaffirming what had been lost in a fog of Jesuit cartographic revision.

Navarrete wasn't putting out a "call to discover and recognize the islands of the Lequios.” He was relating Francis Gali's voyage. This is not Navarrete's personal logbook. It is a collection of stories of voyages. 

Tim fixates on the coordinate of 21¾° and ignores the fact the Batanes did not need to be discovered. The Ryukyu Islands are a chain which stretches all the way from Japan and includes Taiwan which historically has been known as Lequios Pequeño. The Batanes islands are located at 20°.

https://ncca.gov.ph/about-ncca-3/subcommissions/subcommission-on-cultural-communities-and-traditional-arts-sccta/northern-cultural-communities/the-batanes-islands/

That is south of 21¾°. The rest of Tim's objection concerning coordinates and the island of Mavulis being at 21.10° will be discussed below.

2. The expedition then sails 260 leagues (≈ 832 nautical miles) east-northeast, passing through an arc of unnamed islands (likely the Ryukyu chain) before reaching Japan at 32° N. Ryukyu = "those islands" not even named in this log.

"Those islands" are named in this narrative. They are the Lequios Islands. Let's have Gemini analyse the sentence. 

The "said islands" being referred to are the islands of the Lequios.

The sentence immediately preceding it in the text states: "...He continued to the ESE. one hundred and fifty leagues to reach where the islands of the Lequios begin, which are in 21¾° latitude..."

So, the phrase "said islands" refers directly back to the "islands of the Lequios" that the navigator had just reached.

It's a shame that an Artificial Intelligence program has to teach Tim how to comprehend English.

3. If Ryukyu were the famed “Lequios,” Navarrete would have named it.

This an ahistorical, anachronistic non-sequitur. Ryukyu was not used by Europeans until well into the 19th and 20th centuries. Even the expedition of Commodore Perry to open Japan referred to the Ryukyu Islands as Loo Choo which is a variant of Lequios. Here is the description of Perry's departure for what is now known as Okinawa.

The latter vessel reached Shanghai on the 4th of May, when Commodore Perry transferred himself to the former, and prepared for his departure for Napha, the principal port of the great Loo Choo island, which was appointed as a general rendezvous for all the ships.

Japan Opened, pg. 63

Expecting a book which was published in 1802 (it's not 1825 as Tim claims, the date is right at the bottom of the title page) to use the place name Ryukyu is foolish to say the least. 

That takes care of Tim's objections. But here is what he does not know. There is much more detail to this story which is to be found in "The Third and Last Volume of the Voyages, Traffiques, and Discoveries of the English Nation" by Richard Hakluyt.

pgs. 445-446

Chapter 3

The Navigation or course of the aforesaid Francisco Gualle out of the haven of Macao to New Spain, with the situation and stretchings of the same, with other notable and memorable things concerning the same voyage.

When we had prepared ourselves, and had taken our leaves of our friends in Macao, we set sail upon the fourth and twentieth of July, holding our course Southeast, & Southeast and by East, being in the wane of the Moon: for when the Moon increases, it is hard holding the course between the Islands, because as then the water and currents run very strong to the Northwest: we traveled through many narrow channels by night, having the depth of eight or ten fathom, with soft muddy ground, until we were about the Island Ilha Branca, yet we saw it not, but by the height we knew that we were past it.

Being beyond it, we ran Eastsoutheast an hundred and fifty leagues, to get about the Islands called Os Baixos dos Pescadores, and the beginning of the Islands Lequeos on the East side, which Islands are called As Ilhas Formosas, that is to say, The fair Islands. This I understood by a Chinar called Santy of Chinchon, and he said that they lie under one and twenty degrees and there it is thirty fathom deep: and although we saw them not, notwithstanding by the height and depth of the water we knew we were past them.

Being past As Ilhas Formosas, or the fair Islands, we held our course East, and East and by North, for two hundred and fifty leagues, until we were past the length of the Islands Lequeos, respecting about fifty leagues from them: the said Chinar told me, that those Islands called Lequeos are very many, and that they have many and very good havens, and that the people and inhabitants thereof have their faces and bodies painted like the Visayans of the Islands of Luzon or Philippines and are apparelled like the Visayans, and that there also are mines of gold: he said likewise that they did often come with small ships and barks laden with Bucks and Harts-hides, and with gold in grains or very small pieces, to traffic with them of the coast of China, which he assured me to be most true, saying that he had been nine times in the small Islands, bringing of the same wares with him to China: which I believed to be true, for that afterwards I inquired thereof in Macao, and upon the coast of China, and found that he said true. The furthest or uttermost of these Islands stretching Northward and Eastward, lie under nine and twenty degrees.

Being past these Islands, then you come to the Islands of Japan, whereof the first lying West and South, is the Island of Firando, where the Portugals used to traffic: they are in length altogether an hundred and thirty leagues, and the furthest Eastward lies under two and thirty degrees: we ran still East, and East and by North, until we were past the said hundred and thirty leagues.

According to this voyage the people of the Leuqios Islands are painted and appareled like the Visayans of Luzon and they also possess mines of gold. Despite the similarity of appearance it is abundantly clear that these are not inhabitants of Luzon. Not only has this ship sailed out of Philippine waters at this point but the Lequios are being compared to the Visayans of Luzon. That comparison is a dead giveaway that they are not the same people. The Lequios possessing gold mines directly contradicts Tim who says:

There is no native gold, no deep harbor, no ships, no identity, and no archaeological proof to tie Ryukyu to the Lequios — only an echo of colonial cartography, uncritically parroted by academia. 

https://thegodculturephilippines.com/ryukyu-was-never-lequios----even-their-scholars-admit-it/

This text also says:

the beginning of the Islands Lequeos on the East side, which Islands are called As Ilhas Formosas, that is to say, The fair Islands. This I understood by a Chinar called Santy of Chinchon, and he said that they lie under one and twenty degrees

Here we see the Lequios Islands begin at Taiwan. "They lie under 21°." This agrees with Navarette's coordinate of 21¾°. In this sentence the word under does not mean BELOW, it means they are located at that latitude. Batanes lies at 20° which is south of the stated coordinate given in Richard Hakluyt's book.

Lest Tim claim I am changing language by saying under does not mean below here are two entries from the Oxford English Dictionary proving otherwise.

https://archive.org/details/the-oxford-english-dictionary-1933-all-volumes/The%20Oxford%20English%20Dictionary%20Volume%2011/page/122/mode/2up

III. In senses implying that one thing is covered by, or included in, another. 

17. Denoting inclusion in a group, category, class, etc. under (them) all, in all, altogether.

Examples given include:

1585: The Persians..which went under the Army of Darius.

1635: Under these eight provinces all France is contained. 

This book was published in 1600 which makes it contemporary with the above examples. Thus it is most certain "that they lie under one and twenty degrees" means they lie AT one and twenty degrees. 

Tim's objection to this is:

Although the northernmost Philippine island (Mavulis in Batanes) sits at 21° 10′ N, Navarrete places the start of the Lequios at 21¾° N — just 35 nautical miles north of the final Philippine landmass. In maritime terms, this still falls well within the navigational boundary of the Philippine archipelago, especially by 19th-century standards, where national influence often extended over 30 nautical miles beyond land. To a navigator like Navarrete, 21¾° N was still “Philippine sea” — and the Lequios, by that reckoning, began in Philippine waters, not Japan.

However, when the full account of Gali's voyage along with Captain Diego Artieda's description of the Batanes and Lequios Islands is considered this objection falls apart. The Lequios are said to begin at Formosa, which is Taiwan, and extend towards Japan. There is no reference to the Batanes, the Philippines, the Philippine sea, or any indication that this area where the Lequios begin is part of the Philippines. 

The furthermost of the Lequios Islands is said to lie at 29° which agrees 100% with Fernando Pinto.

Essa ilha léquia jaz situada em vinte e nove graus

https://fundar.org.br/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/peregrinacao-vol-ii.pdf pg. 53

Tim says nine and twenty means a range of latitudes but that is an impossibility in this narration. It is a firm 29°. It should be noted that Pinto's journal was published in 1614 while Richard Hakluyt's book was published in 1600. Hakluyt predates Pinto by 14 years! That is two independent witnesses corroborating and confirming the Lequios Islands being at 29° and further proof the latitude as given by Pinto is not ambiguous. 

Let's recap. Tim misinterprets the story of Francis Gali's voyage, his objections are based upon those misinterpretations, and there is much more to the story that he has missed. The rest of the story puts as plain a difference between the Lequios Islands and the Philippines as can be. It's another strike-out for Timothy Jay Schwab who is The God Culture.