MINERALS.
The Mining Laws, Reglamento de Minas, are of a liberal character and
allow concessions to be made to any person, Spaniard, Indian, mestizo,
naturalized or established foreigner, who shall discover and report
the discovery of a mine, and undertake to work it. Sundry officials
and all ecclesiastics are excluded from the privilege. The work
must be entered upon in ninety days, under certain conditions; four
months of continued suspension, or eight months of interrupted labour,
within the year bring the loss of the conceded privilege. There must
not be less than eight labourers employed. The mines are subjected
to the inspection of the mining department The mining regulations
were published by the Captain-General Claveria in January, 1846.
The gold of the Philippines is produced by washing and digging. In
several of the provinces it is found in the rivers, and natives are
engaged in washing their deposits. The most remarkable and profitable
of the gold mines worked by the Indians are those of Tulbin and
Suyuc. They break the rock with hammers, and crush it between two small
millstones, dissolving the fragments in water, by which the gold is
separated. They melt it in small shells, and it produces generally
from eight to ten dollars an ounce, but its fineness seldom exceeds
sixteen carats. It is found in quartz, but the nuggets are seldom of
any considerable size. The inhabitants of Caraga cut in the top of a
mountain a basin of considerable size, and conduct water to it through
canals made of the wild palm; they dig up the soil while the basin
is filling, which is opened suddenly, and exhibits for working any
existing stratification of gold; these operations are continued till
the pits get filled with inroads of earth, when they are abandoned;
generally, when a depth has been reached which produces the most
advantageous returns, the rush of waters conveys away much of the metal
which would otherwise be deposited and collected. Gold is also found
in the alluvial deposits which are ground between stones, thrown into
water, and the metal sinks to the bottom. The rivers of Caraballo,
Camarines, and Misamis, and the mountains of Caraga and Zebu, are the
most productive. Many Indian families support themselves by washing
the river sands, and in the times of heavy rains gold is found in the
streets of some of the pueblos when the floods have passed. There
can be no doubt of the existence of much gold in the islands, but
principally in the parts inhabited by the independent tribes.
The Sociedad Exploradora is engaged in working gold-mines and washing
auriferous sands in the province of New Ecija.
Gold dust is the instrument of exchange in the interior of Mindanao,
and is carried about in bags for the ordinary purposes of life. The
possession of California by the Spaniards for so many generations
without the development of its riches may explain their inertness
and indifference in the Philippines, notwithstanding the repeated
averments of Spanish writers that the archipelago abounds in gold.
Iron also abounds, especially in the province of Bulacan; but it may be
doubted whether it can be produced as cheaply as it may be imported,
especially while roads are in so backward a state, and carriage
charges so heavy. Many iron-works have been entered on and abandoned.
A coal-mine is being explored at Guila Guila, in the island of Zebu,
on the river Mananga, at a distance of about six miles from the town
of San Nicolas, which has nearly 20,000 inhabitants and is by far
the largest town in the island. There are reported to be strata of
coal from one to four feet in thickness. The proprietor informs me
that he expects in the course of another year to be able to deliver
coals on the coast at a moderate rate in Tangui, which is close to
the town of Falisay.
Of the various objects of speculation, mining is probably the
most attractive to the adventurer, from the high premiums which it
sometimes brings to the successful. When the risk is divided among
many shareholders, it partakes of the character of a lottery, in
which the chances are proportioned to the stakes; but where, as in
most of the mining speculations of the Philippines, the enterprises
are conducted by individuals, without adequate means to overcome
the preliminary difficulties and to support the needful outlay,
disappointment, loss, ruin and the abandonment of probably valuable
and promising undertakings are but of too frequent occurrence. I
have before me some details of the attempts made to work the copper
ores of Mancayan, in the district of Cagan (now called Lepanto), in
South Ilocos (Luzon). They have been worked in the rudest way by the
Igorrote Indians from time immemorial, and the favourable report of
the richness of the ores which were sent to Europe led to renewed but
inadequate attempts for their exploitation. A good deal of money has,
I understand, been lost, without providing the necessary machinery
for extracting the metal, or roads for its conveyance. A sample taken
from a stratum ten feet in height and seven in breadth, on the side
of a pit four yards deep, gave, as the results of an analysis, 44 per
cent. of copper, 29 of sulphur, 18 of arsenic, and 9 of iron. The
ruggedness of the rocks, the thickness of the forest jungle, the
indolence of the natives, and, probably more than these, the absence
of an intelligent direction and sufficient pecuniary resources, have
produced much discouragement. Don Antonio Hernandez says there are 280
Indian (Igorrote) families occupied in Mancayan in copper digging and
melting; that they only produce annually about 200 picos (of 137 1/2
lbs. each), which they sell at from eight to nine dollars per pico
on the spot; to the neighbouring Christian Indians at ten to twelve,
who resell them on the coast at from thirteen to sixteen dollars.
The Indians in Ilocos and Pangasinan manufacture their own domestic
utensils from the copper extracted by themselves.
Finely variegated marbles exist in the province of Bataan, and some
have been used for ornamenting the churches; but their existence has
excited little attention, and no sale was found for some large blocks
quarried by a patriotic adventurer.
I have before mentioned that there are many mineral waters in the
island--sulphurous and ferruginous--at Antipolo. In the Laguna
there is a virgin patroness, whose festival lasts eighteen days,
and immense crowds of all races come to drink the waters, and join
the processions in her honour. The inhabitants of Manila attribute
great virtues to the waters of Pagsanghan.