The God Culture: Fr. Gaspar de Cruz and Fr. Martin de Rada on the Lequios Islands

Here are two accounts from the 16th century regarding the Lequios Islands which Timothy Jay Schwab who is The God Culture has overlooked. These two accounts are found in South China in the Sixteenth Century by Charles Boxer. 

This volume is available to peruse on Google Books. 

The first mention of the Lequios Islands is from Fr. Gaspar de Cruz.

And as to what he says about the Eastern Scythia ending in a point, it seems to me that both he and those from whom he took this are mistaken; and that this mistake arose from seeing it thus depicted in a world-map, which was for lack of true information. Because the point which they show as containing the country and people of the Liquos is not continued with the mainland, but it is an island which standeth in the sea of China, little more or less than thirty leagues from China itself. In this island live this people, which is a well-disposed people, more to the white than brown.

It is a cleanly and well attired people; they dress their hair like women, and tie it up on the side of their head, fastened with a silver bodkin. Their land is fresh and fertile, with many and good waters; and it is a people that sail very seldom although they are in the midst of the sea. They use weapons and wear very good short swords. They were in times past subject to the Chinas, with whom they had much communication, and therefore are they very like the Chinas.

Now this island lying in the China Sea, as we have said, the coast of China runneth winding from the province of Cantão and from its coast to the coast of the province of Namquim, whither the Portugals have sailed, the coast making never a point as the maps do make, the which may be seen well delineated in the seacards of the Portugals, and in the maps which they do make.

pg. 68

A footnote on this section says:

Liu-chiu (Ryūkyū) islands and their inhabitants. The forms Lequeos, Liquios, etc., occur in old Portuguese and Spanish texts.

Fr. Gaspar de Cruz says the Lequios Islands are 30 leagues east of China. That contradicts the distance of 175 leagues which is to be found in a single Spanish version of Barbosa's book. That proves whoever wrote 175 leagues, be it Barbosa or someone else, was wrong. That is understandable seeing as the book was written before the Portuguese knew of the Lequios Islands by firsthand rather than secondhand knowledge. It underscores that the textual variant of "175 leagues to the east," which is found in no other edition of Barbosa's book, is not reliable. Yet Tim calls this textual variant "the final blow" to prove the Lequios Islands are the Philippines. 

The second mention of the Lequios Islands is from Fr. Martin de Rada.

Besides these islands which lie near to the coast, there are a very large number of [other] great and populous islands; these I will describe as they are depicted in their draughts. Beginning at the extremity of the province of Canton, which we said lies in latitude 20°, from thence nearly forty leagues to seaward, they say lies the great and populous island of Cauchi which is tributary to China. Over against the province of Hocquien [Fukien] and beyond Tacao which we saw, as is related in our narrative, lies towards the north-east of it the island of Zuansin, and from thence towards the northeast, Lusin. To the east of this lies Siaugy, and from here towards the north-west lies the Lesser Leuquiu, the which lies to the east of Hocchiu [Foochow]. Then towards the north, lies the Greater Leuquiu. These islands are called Los Lequios in our maps. More towards the north is Humal, over against Chetcan. From thence to the northwards lies Gitpon, which peoples and nations which border on the land of Taybin, and therefore we near the strait at the entrance of the gulf of Santon [Shantung] is Tanhay we call the Japones, and further north than the Japones lies Tauçian. And and at the furthest extremity of Taybin is Halecan.

pg. 265

A footnote on this section says:

As on most Ming Chinese maps, the Lesser Liu-chiu are here identified with Western Formosa, and the Greater Liu-chiu with the modern island group of that name, better known nowadays as the Ryūkyū.

Fr. Martin de Rada describes "a very large number of [other] great and populous islands" near China. He then says the Lequios Islands are east of Foochow which is Fuzhou. It looks like this:

That's not the Philippines by any measure. 

These are two more 16th century primary sources describing the Lequios Islands which contradict Timothy Jay Schwab's thesis that the Philippines are the Lequios Islands. Tim's reliance on a single anomalous reading of 175 leagues from one Spanish version of Barbosa without examining the broader historical context or corroborating eyewitness testimony is not only methodologically weak, it is outright misleading. Likewise, his reliance on imprecise 16th century maps, as if they reveal a conspiracy to hide the real location of the Lequios Islands, is also disingenuously misleading as it ignores the broader historical context as recorded in 16th century texts. That Tim overlooks historically critical sources like these, or worse, dismisses them as being ambiguous in the original and flawed in translation, further discredits his claims and his ability as a researcher.