The Inhabitants of the Philippines Part 22

Gold is certainly very widely distributed in the islands. I have seen women washing the sands of the River San Jose del Puray in the province of Manila, and noted what small specks they collected. I was informed that their average earnings were about 25 cents per day. Whether these sands could be dredged and washed mechanically on a large scale with profit I cannot say.

In 1890, I ascended the Puray River and went up the Arroyo Macaburabod to where it bifurcates. There, close to the boundary of the province of Manila and district of Moron, I found a face of disintegrated quartz glittering with large crystals of iron pyrites.

This was near a geological frontier where the igneous and sedimentary rocks joined, and the neighbourhood was highly mineralized, there being iron, coal, and gold within a short distance. I took a large number of samples, and the a.n.a.lyst Anacleto del Rosario declared that one of them gave an a.s.say of 17 dwts. of gold to the ton. But of course such a.s.says prove nothing, for the accidental presence of a grain of gold in the sample would make all the difference in the results.

Near Gapan in Nueva ecija more profitable washings are situated, and at times large numbers of men and women are to be seen at work, especially after a sudden flood has come down. The sands of the River Agno also yield gold, and the washing for it is quite an industry amongst the Pangasinan women about Rosales, but the return is said to be small. But after a north-westerly gale has heaped up the black sand at the mouth of this river in the Bay of Lingayen, the people turn out in numbers to wash it, and sometimes have better luck. But although these washings are poor, a considerable quant.i.ty of gold is obtained from the Igorrotes, and there is no doubt that these people have for centuries worked quartz veins or pockets, and that they only extract sufficient for their modest requirements in the way of purchasing cattle, cloth, and tools. They do not h.o.a.rd any gold, for they say that it is safer in the mine than in their houses. When one of them requires a few ounces he goes to his mine, gets it out, and immediately proceeds to purchase what he wants. Possibly they do not consider the supply inexhaustible, and they have thought for to-morrow, or for those who will come after them. It is not their object to exhaust the bounties of nature in the shortest possible time.

When they have found a rich pocket they build a house over the pit, and when not at work they cover the hole with roughly-hewn planks or logs ; they take precautions in disposing of the detritus, so that it does not call attention from a distance.

In the Exhibition of 1887 the Comandante Politico-Militar of the Province of Benguet showed samples of auriferous quartz from Antaniac and from Capunga, also quartz with visible threads of gold from the latter place, also leaf gold from the veins, two specimens of auriferous quartz from Pangutantan with gold extracted from it, and gold-dust from the River Agno.

Other exhibits included specimens of gold-bearing rock from Lepanto and Infantas, and compact auriferous quartz from the celebrated gold-pits of Suyuc near Mancayan. All these quartz reefs are worked by the Igorrotes.

Gold is also found near Atimonan in Tayabas, but the neighbourhood of Paracale and Mambulao, and the slopes of Mount Labo are most famous in Manila.

During the last century large quant.i.ties of gold were taken from the surface-workings, which are now exhausted, or only afford a miserable living to the natives who treat the auriferous earths in a very primitive way.

The gold having been taken, the next thing was to use the reputation of the mines to attract capital, and this was done to some considerable extent, one company being founded on the ruins of another. One of the later ones was the "Ancla de Oro," or Golden Anchor, but its capital was expended without results. The late Don Antonio Enriquez, a Spanish gentleman well-known to British and Americans in Manila, worked some mining properties there for some years, and had faith in them.

He consulted me about them, and I forwarded some samples of the ores to my agents in London, who had them a.n.a.lyzed by Messrs. Johnson & Matthey, but the results were not encouraging, and did not confirm the a.n.a.lysis made in Manila.

About 1890, Messrs. Peele, Hubbell & Co. got out an American mining expert, whose name I forget, but I believe he was a mining engineer of high standing. He spent some time at Mambulao and Paracale, and made a careful examination of the country. It was understood that his report did not encourage any further expenditure in prospecting or development. But of late years further attempts have been made to boom the place, and the Mambulao Gold Mining Syndicate, London, 1893, has been formed. I am unaware on what new information the promoters rely to justify their bringing this place again before the public.

Surigao, in the old kingdom of Caraga, is rich in gold which is very widely disseminated. Father Llovera, a missionary who, in March, 1892, made an excursion up the River Siga to visit some unbaptized Mamanuas in the mountains, declares that the sands contain much gold, so much so that particles were plainly visible. This river takes its rise in the eastern Cordillera, between Cantilan and Jabonga, and runs in a north-easterly direction into the southern part of Lake Mainit. The missionary also declares that veins of gold were visible in some of the pieces of rock lying in the bed of the river, which they broke to examine. But he does not seem to have brought back any specimens, as one would expect.

His declaration is confirmed by Dr. Montano, a French traveller and skilled explorer, who however does not say that he saw the gold dust amongst the sand.

From Surigao to Gigaquil the people are engaged in washing the sands for gold.

Foreman states that for many months remittances of four or five pounds weight of gold were sent from Mindanao to a firm in Manila, and that it was alluvial gold from Surigao extracted by the natives.

Don Jose Centeno, Inspector of Mines, says in a report: "The most important workings effected in Surigao are in the Caninon-Binutong and Cansostral mountains, a day's journey from the town.

"These mountains consist of slaty talc much metamorphosed, and of serpentine. In the first are found veins of calcite and quartz from half-an-inch to three inches thick, in which especially in the calcite the gold is visible mixed with iron and copper pyrites, galena and blende. It is a remarkable circ.u.mstance that the most mineralized veins run always in an east and west direction, whilst the poor and sterile veins always follow another direction. The workings are entirely on the surface, as the abundance of water which flows to them prevents sinking shafts, and nothing is known of the richness at depth. Rich and sterile parts alternate, the gold being mostly in pockets. From one of the veins in Caninoro in a length of eighteen inches one hundred ounces of gold were taken."

Some time after this find, Messrs. Aldecoa & Co., a Manila firm, erected stamps at Surigao, and a certain amount of gold was sent up by every steamer to Manila, but in spite of the apparently favourable circ.u.mstances, the enterprise was ultimately abandoned and the machinery removed.

I do not know the reason, but people in Manila are so used to the collapse of mining companies that it is regarded as their natural and inevitable end, and no explanations are required.

Nieto (p. 75) mentions the northern parts of the province of Surigao and Misamis as the richest in gold. In Misamis there is both alluvial gold and rich quartz reefs, the richest known spots being Pighoulugan on the River Cagayan, Iponan and Pigtao. The ore at the latter place is auriferous iron pyrites, called by the natives Inga.

Nuggets weighing from two and a half to four ounces have been found in these places, so that Pigafetta's stories are not without foundation.

On March 20th, 1888, a clerk of Don Louis Genu, a merchant in Manila, called upon me on business and exhibited a large pickle bottle full of gold which he had just received from Cagayan de Misamis. There were several pounds weight of it, and I carefully examined it with a lens. I found it in pieces, many of them half an inch or more in length, slightly flattened, and having minute particles of white quartz adhering to them, and a few loose particles of quartz. The pieces were not water-worn, and had evidently formed part of a seam of dendritic or lace gold, such as I had seen exhibited by a vendor of mining properties in Denver, Col., just a year before.

This exhibit opened my eyes to the possibilities of gold mining in Mindanao, but I did not leave my business to go prospecting.

The natives of this part of Mindanao look upon washing for gold as their chief resource. A certain quant.i.ty of what they collect is used to make ornaments, and pa.s.ses from hand to hand instead of coin in payment of gambling debts, and stakes lost at c.o.c.kfights. The Mestizos and Chinamen get hold of the rest and send it away surrept.i.tiously, so that no statistics can be collected. It is impossible to tax gold collected in this way, but the Government might derive a profit by establishing posts in each district where gold would be purchased at a fixed price and so get, say, ten or twenty per cent. out of it instead of allowing the Chinese and Mestizos to make perhaps forty or fifty per cent. according to the ignorance of the vendor.

Foreman is probably quite right in saying that the influence of the friars has always been exerted against any mining company, whether Spanish or foreign. They did not want a rush of miners and Jews to the Philippines. But now, under the American Government, their power must decline, and new undertakings will, in a measure, be free from this hindrance.

The Spanish mining laws and regulations are excellent and a perfect model for legislation on the subject. They are based on the principle that the ownership of the surface gives no t.i.tle to the minerals underneath, which belong to the State. The owner can, however, obtain a t.i.tle by developing a mine.

The ingenuity and unscrupulousness of that vile breed, the native Pica-Pleito or pettifogging lawyer, has greatly contributed to stop Europeans from proceeding with mining enterprises, as success would bring down these blackmailers in swarms.

It is to be hoped that the new government will lay a heavy hand on these birds of prey. Rightly considered, they are only a species of vermin, and should have verminous treatment.

Now that the fortune of war has handed over the sovereignty of the Philippines to an enterprising and energetic race, I cannot doubt that the mystery of centuries will be dispelled.

Amongst the Californian, Colorado, or Nevada volunteers, there should be men having the courage, the knowledge of prospecting, and the physical strength necessary for success in this quest, if they can obtain permission from their superiors to attempt it. The prospects are so good that they should not have any difficulty in getting capitalists to finance them.

They will require to go in a strong party to prevent being cut off by the savages, and to escort their supplies of provisions.

As deer and wild pig abound they will be able to supply themselves in a great measure with meat by sending out a couple of good shots to hunt.

For such as these gold mining ought to be most remunerative, and enable those who survive the many perils to retire with a fortune after a few years of hard work. But so far as I know there is not at present sufficient information about any mines in the Philippines, whether of gold or any other metal, to warrant the establishment of companies for purchasing and working them.

Mining claims can be staked out and registered under the present laws by natives or foreigners, but in limited areas, and placers or river beds can be worked by all without leave or license, and cannot be monopolised.

I wish to avoid prophesy, but I shall be much surprised if the Philippines, in American hands, do not turn out in a few years an important gold-producing country.

Copper.

Native copper has been found in several places in the islands, amongst them are Surigao and Torrijos in Mindoro.

In the article on the Igorrotes, I have spoken of the copper mines of Mancayan, and related how, when worked by the savages they were successful to the extent of supplying themselves with cooking-pots, trays and ornaments, besides leaving an annual surplus of about nineteen tons of copper, which was sold.

A Spanish company obtained the concession about 1864, and drove out the natives.

The t.i.tle was the Sociedad Minera de Mancayan, and they experienced considerable difficulties in getting a merchantable product, their science being at a disadvantage compared to the practical knowledge of the Igorrotes. They, however, persevered, and got up to a make of about 180 tons in one year--nearly ten times the production obtained by the Igorrotes. But the usual fate of Philippine mining companies overtook them, and the works were closed in 1875, it was said from scarcity of labour.

Several kinds of ores are found at Mancayan, almost on the surface, red, black and grey copper, also sulphates and carbonates of copper.

About Mambulao cupro-ferruginous quartz and copper pyrites are found, but are not worked.

I am quite unable to venture any opinion on the prospects of copper-mining and smelting in the Philippines, but no doubt experts will shortly obtain the necessary data to decide what can be done, but capital should be laid out with great caution, and the many difficulties of climate, carriage and labour taken into consideration.

Iron.

There is plenty of iron ore in the Philippines. In Luzon it occurs plentifully in the western spurs of the Cordillera all the way from Bosoboso to San Miguel de Mayumo, and it is now worked near the latter place in a primitive way. Plough-shares, cooking-pots and bolos are the princ.i.p.al productions; the fuel used in all cases is charcoal. I sent to the Philippine Exhibition of 1887 at Madrid a dozen bolos made from native iron. The ore is very rich, giving 70 to 80 per cent. of iron; when polished it is of a beautiful silvery white colour, very tough, and of the finest quality. Attempts have been made by Europeans to work the iron ores of Luzon, but they have invariably ended in the bankruptcy of the adventurers, and in one case even in suicide.

When deer-shooting at the Hacienda de San Ysidro above Bosoboso many years ago, I learned from the natives there that in the next valley, not far from the hamlet of Santa Ines, there existed the remains of some old iron-works, abandoned years ago. They said there were unfinished forgings still lying about, amongst them two anchors. I did not, however, go to examine them, being intent on shooting.

Red hemat.i.te is found in Cebu, brown hemat.i.te in Paracale and other parts of Camarines Norte, and both red and brown in Capiz. In Misamis oxydized iron is found. Some of the iron about San Miguel de Mayumo is magnetic.