es, as are the
Ethiopians themselves, both in their black color and in their kinky
hair. There are still a number of those people in the interior in
the mountains. In one of the large islands there are so many of them,
that it is for that reason called the island of Negros. Those blacks
were apparently the first inhabitants of these islands, and they have
been deprived of them by the civilized nations who came later by way of
Samatra, the Javas, Borney, Macacar, and other islands lying toward the
west. If one should ask whence could come the Negros to these islands
so distant from Africa and Ethiopias, where negroes live, I answer
that it was from nearer India, or citra Gangem, which was formerly
settled by Ethiopic negroes and was called Etiopia. [7] From there,
it is more probable, went out the settlers of African Etiopia, as we
prove in another place. Moreover, even today does India have nations
of the negro race. Also they could easily pass from the districts of
the mainland of India to the nearest islands, and could come from
one to the other even as far as these Filipinas. In Nueva Guinea,
which is quite near Terrenate, the natives are negroes like those of
Guinea, and on that account the first explorers gave them that name;
and they could also pass from those to these districts.

30. There is another kind of people, neither so civilized as the
first, nor so barbarous as the second. They generally live about
the sources of the rivers, and on that account are called in some
districts, Ilayas. They are the Tingues, and are called Manguianes,
[8] Zambals, or other names, for each island has a different name
for them. They generally trade with the Tagalogs, Visayans, and
other civilized nations who are commonly settled near the sea and
river mouths. Although those Ilayas or Tingues are not Christians,
they pay some sort of recognition or tribute, and have their system
of policy or government. It is thought that they are a mixture of the
other barbarous and civilized nations, and for that reason they are
midway between the other two classes of peoples in color, clothing,
and customs.

We do not pretend to deny by the above that some people could have
come from other parts and kingdoms of India extra Gangem (such as
Sian, Camboja, Cochinchina), and from China itself, and even Japon, to
conquer and settle in parts of these islands--especially the Chinese,
from whose histories, and their remains found in various parts,