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