_Relation of the discovery of the mines and of the pacification of
the Ygolotes in the province of Pangasinan_
Relation of the voyage and entrance that I, Captain and Sargento-mayor
Alonso Martin Quirante, made by order of the governor and
captain-general, Don Alonso Faxardo de Tenca, during this present
year, one thousand six hundred and twenty-four, to the province and
mines of the Ygolotes; and the tests or assays made of the metals
there by various miners; the nature of the country, and what I was
able to learn of its inhabitants.
First, I left the city of Manila by order of the said governor and
captain-general, to attain the said entrance, on December twenty-two,
one thousand six hundred and twenty-three, and went overland to the
province of Pangasinan. I reached that province on January first,
six hundred and twenty-four, and took over the offices of justice and
war from Captain and Sargento-mayor Antonio Carreño de Valdes. As he
notified me of the royal decree ordering his residencia to be taken,
in fulfilment thereof I took it, and sent him to the said city on
the fifth of the following February.
On the eleventh of the said month of January, the champan which was
despatched at my departure from the said city, laden with the infantry,
ammunition, and other war-stores necessary for the said entrance,
reached the port and storehouses of Arrimguey.
From the said day, January first, until the eleventh of the following
February, when I reached the said town and storehouses of Arriguey
[_sic_] I collected and gathered provisions and everything else
important for the success of the said expedition. Likewise, together
with the preparation that I made of food in the said time, in the said
month of February, I caused to be collected, in addition to the seventy
Spanish soldiers and officers of my company, fourteen adventurers
[_extravagantes_] or substitutes [_sobresalientes_], besides two
sailors (one of them a miner), two Japanese miners, and one armorer;
a clerk [_tenedor_] and notary; eleven of his Majesty's negro slaves,
and nine Indians imprisoned for crimes; forty-seven Sangley carpenters,
smiths, and sawyers; and one thousand seven hundred and forty-eight
other Indians--eight hundred and ninety-three from the province of
Ylocos, formed into twelve companies; and eight hundred and fifty-five
from the province of Pangasinan, formed into ten other companies--who
in all totaled one thousand nine hundred and three rations. Father
Fray Raymundo Beger [52] of the Order of Preachers, and Licentiate
Augustin Tabuyo Baldecañas, who was supplied by the bishop of Nueva
Segovia, also went with us as our curas and vicars for the success
of the said expedition.
On the fourteenth of the said month, I made a muster and enrolment
of the said men. The next day rations were given to all of them for
a fortnight, and I began to despatch them by troops in the manner
and order following. On the sixteenth of the said month of February,
I despatched Adjutant Andres Tamayo with twenty soldiers and two
hundred Pangasinan Indians, a chosen and light troop, in order that
being unencumbered or discommoded by their rations, arms, and tools
they might open and clear the road, arranging camping-places along it
during the assigned marches. They were given orders to stop in those
quarters only over night, so that afterward and without joining them
the second troop who were to follow could occupy the same. On the
next day, the seventeenth, after having formed three divisions from
the other men, with eighteen soldiers in charge of my sargento and of
a corporal, I despatched five hundred and sixteen of the Indians of
each province--all except their officers with their packs--with orders
to follow the first divisions. They were to make the same marches,
but were not to unite with the first troop, nor with the following
one. This was in order to avoid the confusion and obstacles that
might arise from both troops, since they were men of so little reason,
both in camp and in marching; since they had to go by only one path,
where because of its narrowness and poor condition they had to go in
single file.
I despatched the third troop consisting of a like number of natives
with seventeen Spanish soldiers, on the eighteenth of February, in
charge of another corporal, ordering them to follow the other two
preceding divisions, in the same order and marches.
The next day, February nineteen, having assigned eight soldiers under
a half-pay alférez, and twenty-five Pangasinan Indians under their
captain, as a guard to the said storehouses--and having despatched
the master-of-camp of the province of Ylocos for more men, in order
to exchange them after a month with those who had gone out before,
who, I feared, were already beginning to desert in part--I started
with the rest of the men that were left. I went to pass the night at
the place called San Juan, two leguas along the road, where, at the
foot of a cross set up there, I found a letter from the troop ahead,
announcing that they had found the quarters burned to the ground,
and that they did not know who had set the fire, but suspected it
was the Ygolotes.
I left the above place on the twentieth, and went to pass the night
with the said last division at the site of Duplas, located about four
leguas along the road. I also found the camp and the country round
about burning, the said Ygolotes having set it afire only a short
time before.
Next day, Wednesday, the twenty-first of the said month, after
the conclusion of sprinkling ashes on all the soldiers, I left the
said place and went to pass the night at another place called San
Francisco. On that day not more than one and one-half leguas could
be made, because of the many rivers.
On Thursday, the twenty-second, at noon, after another one and one-half
leguas made as above, my said division and I reached Buena Vista,
where I found all three divisions had halted because the Ygolote
Indians had occupied the road; and they were building forts at a
narrow passage on it, with a stockade, where, when the said adjutant
tried to pass ahead, they wounded him and some of the other Spaniards,
and some Indians who accompanied him.
Next day, the twenty-third, I went out with thirty soldiers and about
one hundred and fifty Indians to the said pass that the Ygolotes were
defending; and although they resisted for some time, and killed some
soldiers and natives, I gained the pass and destroyed the fort, so
that the enemy could not remain in it longer or make any other sortie,
as it was all unsheltered.
Saturday, the twenty-fourth, I left the said place of Buena Vista,
and went with all my troops united to pass the night at Los Pinos,
a march of three leguas. That distance was made with some difficulty
as the roads in some parts are very closely grown with reed-grass;
and in the bad passes are fallen trees which form the best defense
that the Ygolotes can have, so that if we were perceived they could
attack us in safety or could shelter themselves.
Sunday, the twenty-fifth, I went to pass the night, on account of
the convenient supply of water, at Rio Frio [_i.e._, "Cold River"]
with my said men, marching through the extremely hot sun for one
and one-half leguas. Next day, Monday, February twenty-six, about
one o'clock, I reached the new mines called Galan by their natives,
located about three leguas from Rio Frio. As the Ygolotes had learned
of our approach, or had seen us about to set fire to some houses--about
two hundred which they had located in various places about the said
mines and hill--they sought shelter without leaving anything except
some small heaps of metal which they were digging in order to work.
Next day, the twenty-seventh, having reconnoitered the said place,
and having seen that it was suitable and secure, and that within
a stone's throw on the same elevation were the mines and veins of
most importance that are yet known to exist among the said Ygolotes,
according to the information given by men who already had experience
of them before, I determined to establish a camp and fortify myself
in them. That I did, locating in a place where in no direction could
we fail to succor and overlook all the paths and ravines where any
danger could be feared, or any difficulty of getting food and water
close at hand and in the quantity desired. In the course of the said
march, I saw and noted that from the time of my departure from the said
village of Arringuey, we were always going from one peak to another,
until we reached that of Los Pinos, from which other higher ones
were discovered; while some small streams were passed on the way,
not of great volume, but to some extent shut in with mountains and
lands full of reed-grass.
Up on the said peak the mountains were almost everywhere destitute
of forests; for except in the very damp ravines, reed-grass does not
grow, or any tree except pines. For that reason, wherever one looks
from the height, very many mountains are to be seen, so jagged, steep,
and near together that it seems impossible for men or any other living
thing to exist on them.
The climate of those mountains is cold rather than temperate, and
less healthful than sickly. The winds that usually prevail are north
and south, and the south winds generally bring rain, accompanied
by extremely violent thunder-storms. Dense fogs always prevail,
and generally make the country very damp.
Certain streamlets of water issue from the springs of those mountains,
from which people drink; and these waters are so cold and thin that, if
one does not eat sufficient, they do him much harm. For that reason it
must be that birds do not breed there; for, since the first is lacking
to them, those that can escape do not await their destruction. Only
certain little birds like linnets are seen, and at times some crows,
which must be foreign to them.
None of the most common useful and fruit trees, which abound in all
the neighboring provinces, are found there; and less any of new or
old España; nor any other that yields either known or wild fruits: so
that the mountains are covered only with a great quantity of pines,
whose roots do not penetrate the ground more than half a vara. The
ground to that depth is black, but below that red and so hard [53]
that the roots, not being able to penetrate it, are very easily torn up
at any violent wind. All the said peaks are so cleared and despoiled
of trees that they do not hinder one from noticing and seeing, for
a great distance below the pines, whatever preparations are being made.
The houses in which those Ygolotes protect themselves from the
inclemencies of the weather--which is intolerable, both because of
the sun when it shines, and from the rains and cold--are very small,
built of straw and short wood. They have no walls, for the roofs serve
as everything, extending from above even to the ground. They sleep
high up, on some boards or planks roughly put together. The doors of
their houses, which are very small, are so low that one must get down
on hands and knees in order to enter them.
Their settlements are established on the peaks of the mountains, and
on the roughest of them, whence afar off they can see all the paths,
so that no one can approach them without being seen by their sentinels,
who always guard their posts day and night. If there is any danger,
they can easily retire without being seen, leaving behind nothing
more than their miserable huts; and, not fearing whether any go to
seek them, they defend themselves as they may by hurling down huge
rocks which they have suitably placed, sharp-pointed reeds, [54] and
stones; and especially do they seek the sure and convenient site. In
the rainy season they fear firearms but little, for they know that
they are of less effect than none at all.
The usual dress and clothing of that people is a loose shock of
disheveled hair that reaches below the ears, and certain bands
about one _jeme_ [55] wide made from the bark of trees. Having wound
these about the waist, they twist them so that they cover the privy
parts. They call these _bahaques_, and they are worn by all classes of
people, men and women. Besides the said bahaque, the chiefs wear Ilocan
blankets, which they have inherited from their ancestors; this garment
is crossed from the shoulder to the waist, where they knot it. Thus
do they go, without any other clothes or shoes. [56] The chiefs of
those natives are not differentiated from the rest of the people in
other things than in the possession of more bones of animals that they
have killed in their feasts, more clothes, and greater age. There are
more chiefs than in other nations, for there is one in every ten or
twelve houses, who is head of his kinsfolk. They inherit from father
to children, or by blood, and do not recognize one as greater than
the other. Those chiefs generally insert gold in the teeth, which is
so well fitted that it does not hinder their talking or eating at all.
The Ygolotes are in general a very active people, bold, well
built, and feared by the other nations surrounding them. As they
have discovered that, and that others, even when numerous, always
run from them, the Ygolotes attack with but few men. Whenever they
kill anyone, scarcely has he fallen before his head is cut off. On
that account they make many feasts, and at night light many fires
on many peaks. They make cups of the skulls, from which they drink
in their feasts and revelries; and leave them as household effects
to their heirs. If any of them are killed, and they can conceal it,
they endeavor to do so; for they grieve greatly and consider it as
a very great insult if the bodies of their dead are not carried away.
The arms used by them consist of a pointed lance one-third of a vara
long, which they generally carry, well polished, and set in a handle
of strong wood more than one braza long. They have others with which
they usually fight, made from heavy green poles, larger than the
above. At the head they insert a bamboo knot, with its point well
sharpened into two edges. They cover themselves with their shields,
which consist of certain short and very light boards, about four or
five palmos long and two or more wide. They use many sharp-pointed
stakes with which they sow the ground, particularly about their haunts,
and wherever harm might come to them. [57]
The Ygolotes are an idolatrous race. They say that their god is
the sky, whom they call Cabunian; and they offer and sacrifice to
him, in their banquets and feasts, swine and carabaos, but under no
consideration cows or bulls. The method of sacrifice practiced by them
is [as follows]. Having tied all the animals not prohibited about the
house of the sacrificer, after the ceremony an old man or old woman,
having placed on the ground a painted cloth that resembles a surplice,
and which they call _salili_, they continue to kill the animals, and
make a great feast. They keep that up for two or three days until they
have finished eating what they have, when their feast or _magunito_
also finishes. He who keeps up such entertainment longest and kills
most of the said animals is most respected.
Their sages or philosophers are the oldest men and women, whom they
respect and obey in an extraordinary manner, and most when they are
occupied in the said feasts; for they say that then and even ordinarily
those persons are wont to talk with the devil, who keeps them blinded.
That race lacks all good natural reasoning power. They cannot read,
nor do they know what day, month, or year, or the increase and decline
of the moon, signify. They govern themselves by one star that rises in
the west, which they call _gaganayan_, while they call the natives of
their neighborhood by the same name. On seeing that star they attend to
the planting of their waste and wretched fields in order to sow them
with yams and camotes, which form their usual and natural food. They
do not have to plow or dig, or perform any other cultivation than
that of clearing the land where they are to plant.
When any one of those barbarians dies, they do not bury him for many
days, for, as they say, they pass one month, during which period they
amass quantities of food about the deceased, to whom they give his
share as well as the others. Then they continue to prick the body,
and, as they say, they draw off or suck out the humors until the body
is left dry. When that time comes they wrap it in their blankets, and
fasten buyos and other things about the waist for the journey. Some are
buried in a sitting posture and placed with their backs against their
shields, in caves under the rocks, the mouths of which are stopped
with stones. Others they set in the trees, and they carry food for
so many days after having left them in either one of those places.
It is not very easy to ascertain the number of those people, who are
scattered, for they are so intractable, and do not let themselves
be seen, moving from one place to another on slight pretext, without
any hindrance; for their houses, to provide which would be the chief
cause of anxiety, they easily build anywhere, with a bundle of hay,
while they move their fields of yams or camotes (on which they live
well) from one place to another without much effort, pulling them
up by the roots--for, because of the dampness of the country, these
take root wherever they are placed. In the same manner, they carry
their ornaments or bones; [58] and since their arms and clothes are
but little or nothing, they are not embarrassed, because they always
carry these with them. Yet it is known that, if those called Ygolotes
reach one thousand men, that is a great number. They can scarcely
gather in one body or live on friendly terms with one another. For
those of Banaco and those of Atindao, villages of the same mountains,
have little or no communication with them, as neither do those of Aytuy
and Panaquy, villages on the other side of the said mountain-range--to
whom it is said that they pay tribute or a sort of recognition; but
both are hostile to those of Alrade, Vigan, and Oyrraya, so that, all
those Ygolotes being so separated, cautious, malicious and treacherous,
no message or despatch can at all be sent them. For if it be done
with few Indians, they secure and kill them; and if there are many,
they fight them, and will not listen to or believe them. If Spaniards
go with an interpreter to talk to them, as I have sometimes attempted
to do, they anticipate them on seeing them and no one remains in his
house, but they flee from the Spaniards. Then, if perchance they hear
some arguments that are shouted out to them, they laugh, and answer
that we are deceiving them, and that they will not trust us; that
they know us for people of bad faith; and that we must lay aside our
firearms if we wish them to approach. And if we did that, they would
employ their usual treachery and evil methods, as they generally do.
In the rainy season, that wretched race, most of whom are miners,
unite with their wives and children to wash the sand of the streamlets
that flow from the mountains, where with less work than in their mines,
by avoiding the digging and crushing of the metal, they get some gold,
although very little. [59] With what all of them get in one way or
another, they go down peacefully to the villages nearest to them,
to trade for certain animals or cattle. They do not trade the gold
by weight, but by sight. Those cattle are the ones that they eat,
with the solemnity above described, in a general assembly; for they
do not breed any kind of cattle or any other living thing for their
feast or sustenance, except certain small and very wretched dogs
which we have often had a chance to see.
It is not easy for us or even for them to ascertain the strata,
veins, or ores whence that product is yielded, since it is well
known that it does not originate or form in the sand, which does not
contain nurseries for it, since so many streamlets descend from so
many ravines and slopes. For it is not yet known that, moving about
ordinarily and having signs of that product, without ascertaining
or knowing any other in all the country, the natives have discovered
more than five elevations or hills within a distance of five or six
leguas, which they have worked during the dry season, in order to
support themselves so wretchedly as is known. Besides, those Ygolotes
are indebted to the natives of the villages who are our friends,
and are unable to pay those who give them credit; the wealth and wit
of both peoples being so small and restricted that, although those
people have no other kind of expenses, or other thing to attend to,
than the product of their mines, they are very generally in debt--a
sure proof of the mistake made in believing that the gain is much,
or the said mines of much importance, as has been and is demonstrated
by experience.
On one of the five elevations which I have said that the Ygolotes
worked, namely, the said new one called Galan (it being the chief
one, as I have said), I camped, and built the fort of Santiago,
under whose advocacy [_i.e._, of Santiago or St. James] they say
it was before. Retaining with myself about two hundred natives from
both provinces [_i.e._, Pampanga and Ilocos], with the Sangleys and
prisoners whom I took with me, I sent back all the others with thirty
soldiers on the twenty-eighth of the month of February, to get more
provisions, ammunition, and other necessary things, at the village
and storehouses of Arrimguey, although afterward some Ylocos Indians
deserted in the one month and six days while I occupied that place,
the natives having returned by a third path. In all three months,
their provisions amounted to two thousand and eighty-seven baskets
of rice, each of fifteen gantas; and for the rations of all the men
from January sixteen (when food began to be issued at my account)
until March twenty-four following, were consumed two thousand and
ninety-four baskets. These rations were given to all the said natives,
and to seven hundred and sixty others besides, who were brought
from Ylocos by the said master-of-camp in order to exchange with
the first, as has been said. On the said day, March twenty-four,
I mustered all the men, and paid and despatched them, except about
one hundred and twenty from both provinces, thirty-one Sangleys,
and about five adventurers [_estravagantes_] and substitutes who
remained with me to aid and accompany us.
Having despatched the said men, I ordered the lieutenant of the
province of Pagasinam not to advise me of anything unless it were a
matter of great importance until the fifteenth of May, when he should
send me four hundred other natives [from Pangasinan] and one hundred
from the said province of Ylocos, all laden with beans and other things
necessary for the sustenance of the men of the said presidio. That was
done in order that I might more freely attend to the investigation of
the mines of the said Ygolotes and what substance they contained. For
that purpose I immediately ordered Martin de Vergara, my alférez,
Rodrigo Lopez Orduña, Juan de Mugaburu, Graviel Molinero, and Diego
de Tovar, soldiers of my company and all miners, and other persons
who understood something [of mines] to investigate and reconnoiter
the said new mines where the said Ygolotes were working. The mouths
of those mines are in the northern part [of the ridge], about a
stone's throw from the said fort, and the mine discovered extends
from above downward in the manner of a horizontal vein or shell for
the distance of a musket-shot from northwest to southeast, and then
twists about for another equal distance to the direction that looks
toward the northwest and west, until it disappears into the depths
of a ravine or watercourse where there is but little sun. That is
not the case with the one that extends northwest and southeast,
for it is flooded with sunlight most of the day. When I reached that
place the Ygolotes were working the said mines through many mouths or
passages that they had opened, following the metal of one large vein,
from which they were taking out the ore that was softest and easiest
to dig, although it contained blue iron pyrites that contain antimony.
Having investigated and examined the above-mentioned, I judged it best
to open a trial place or mouth high up, and in the middle of all the
mine works that the said Ygolotes were carrying on, in order to get all
the body of the metal from the top which is more than one braza wide,
and from the crust of the earth. On the fifth of March following,
we began to open it, and, following the opening for ten estados, we
encountered the said mines that the Ygolotes were working, by which
our field of work was enlarged much more on the level, at the sides,
and vertically; and we continued to get metal for assaying.
The second hill or mine is that called Arisey and Bugayona, which is
but little more than three leguas from the new one above. It issues
from the same ridge or elevation, where the old fort Del Rosario
[_i.e._, "of the rosary"] was established, which was destroyed
by fire in November of the past year one thousand six hundred and
twenty-three. It is on the slope facing west, and the sun floods it
from nine until four. It has a descent of one-half legua that is very
troublesome as it is very steep, with two divisions and ravines at the
side, and precipices along both slopes and also in front; for it is
very steep, with a hollow in the middle, in which a spring of water is
enclosed, that rises near the place where the said fort stood. [There
is] a slope which is at the foot of the work where the natives washed
[gold], and gathered certain small stones known to them, which they
crushed for their profit; for in no other way is there any known or
constant source from which to obtain the metal--but only loose dirt
with certain ores, and those of the said red metal, which traverse the
soil--without digging down to the bottom. Nor can this dirt be worked
without danger of caving in, as was the case in all the veins and works
that were on that elevation. Nothing more of these remained than only
the indications of having been opened and worked from the vertical
within the elevation; for they do not follow the level and center
as that has been found to be of no benefit. From that one is led to
believe that the mines were abandoned long ago. Yet from the mouths
of those sunken mines, inasmuch as no other place was found whence
one might get ore, about fifteen small baskets of ore were obtained
by the said miners, Alférez Martin de Bergara, Rodrigo Lopez Orduña,
Juan de Mugaburu, and Diego de Tovar, from that which appeared best
for assaying and examining its nature or the benefit that could be
derived from it.
The third elevation and mine is that called Baranaban, which is about
one legua from the said fort and mine of Arisey, on a barren hill
that faces south, which is flooded by the sun all day long. Through
it runs a vein about one vara wide, extending east and west for
some distance. There are some works and openings there, narrow,
and distinct one from the other. Thence were taken fifteen baskets
of gravel and dirt, which has the color of coal, in order to assay
it. One can get a quantity of it from the said vein, although with
little security from the earth caving in unless the works be propped
up; for all of them are of shifting dirt, which is easily undermined,
for which reason the said works have caved in, and bear the aspect
rather of neglect than of having been worked.
The fourth hill or mine is that of Antamog, which is perhaps more than
two leguas from the said old fort and mine of Arisey, and five and
one-half from our fort of Santiago, which faces south from a large
hill whose peak extends east and west, the said elevation having
been undermined by one of its springs, and traversed by very narrow
small threads of white and yellow metal; while all the elevation is
traversed by and filled with passages, which are found intermixed,
opened sidewise from the vertical and inward, and dipping downward
scarcely at all, as the threads of the metal are not deep. In order
that these may not cave in, they are propped up with stakes and boards;
for otherwise, inasmuch as the dirt is so loose, they would not remain
at all secure, as has happened to those unpropped, since we saw some
that were blocked up and caved in. The said works are very narrow,
and all were examined without finding metal, because of the high level,
or sides, or any kind of vein, except at the entrance of the openings
whence they were drawn.
From the said threads they obtained a kind of brass-colored and less
dirty earth, in order to wash it in another large placer, that they
had at one side of the said elevation, with a small stream that rises
on top of the elevation, where they had a small settlement. They
could, to all appearances, obtain but little profit, and with great
difficulty, even with the community so near by. According to the signs,
it was a long time since those workings and mines had been worked,
and they were more neglected than the others; yet they produced the
best (or the best-appearing) ore that could be found. Twenty baskets
of it were obtained by the said miners to assay and investigate its
nature, and determine what it might be.
The fifth and last elevation, hill, or mine is that called Conog,
which is about one-half legua from the preceding and located in the
same chain. It is flooded by the sun all day long, as is the other. The
said elevation, turning, extends toward the north. In it are to be
seen five or six openings or passages, that differ but little from
those of Antamog. No considerable or fundamental vein was found,
but only brass-colored earth that contained some small bits of blue
metal containing iron pyrites, all of them very soft. In one passage
that was lower was found on the level a small stream of clear water
which empties through another opening lower down than it, both of those
openings having been made for one excavation. To all appearances those
mines were abandoned long ago; and although they were not being worked,
and were seen to be so neglected, they contained the best-appearing
metal that was seen. The said miners got about ten small baskets of
it to assay.
The tools with which those Ygolotes worked, or work, their mines are
certain stakes of heavy wood fashioned like pickaxes, with the knot
of the said stake larger at the end of it, where, having pierced
it, they fit into it a small narrow bit of iron about one palmo
long. Then seated in the passages or works, as the veins prove,
they pick out and remove the ore, which having been crushed by a
stout rock in certain large receptacles fixed firmly in the ground,
and with other smaller stones by hand, and having reduced the ore to
powder, they carry it to the washing-places. For that purpose they
have some small streamlets near at hand, with two or three hollows
in their beds. There passing the said ore from one to the other
until they clean away the mud from it, by means of the sunlight,
which floods everything, they discover and collect some dust or
grains of gold. Then they again crush the large grains of ore, and
wash and rewash it, until, having passed through the said basins,
what remains at last is entirely useless. To judge by the tools that
have been seen and which the said Ygolotes have, as above said, the
most usual and only working that they give their ores is the above,
and nothing further. With their little ability for discovering these,
if nature and poverty--which reduces them to subjection without any
expense--did not compel them, they would vainly spend their time,
in one way or another, in searching for something to eat, which they
do not possess or produce.
All the hills and elevations, mines, passages, veins, and works above
mentioned have been examined and entered by the said miners. They have
obtained and assayed metals with the greatest care possible. Each
assay is set down separately so that it will stand as a testimony
and token of service, with the day, month, and year, just as they
have been made, in the following manner.
_Refinement_ [_of metals_]. 1. First, on Palm Saturday, on the night
of the thirtieth of March, one thousand six hundred and twenty-four,
a refining fire was made by the said Alférez Martin de Vergara and
the other miners. Upon it and seventeen libras of lead was fed the
dust and sediment of one-half quintal of ore that was obtained from
the hole which I have said was opened in the veins and new mines of
Galan, at a depth of ten estados. A grain of the appearance of silver,
and weighing as much as one real, was obtained.
_Quicksilver_. 2. On the said day, April six, of the said year, three
quintals of ore from the same hole and veins were incorporated with
three libras of quicksilver and compounded with salt. On the tenth of
the said month it was washed, and a small grain of gold was obtained
that weighed one-half real. In the said assay ten onzas of quicksilver
were lost.
_Quicksilver_. 3. On the said day, April six, three libras of
quicksilver were incorporated with three quintals of ore from the
said hole and vein, which was obtained at a depth of ten estados;
and the mixture was compounded with salt. It was washed on the tenth
of the said month, and a small grain of gold of the weight of one-half
real was obtained. Eleven onzas of quicksilver were lost.
_Quicksilver_. 4. On Sunday, April seven, two quintals of the same
ore from the said hole and vein were incorporated with two libras
of quicksilver, having roasted the ore while in the form of stone,
before crushing it. On the eleventh it was washed, and a small grain
of gold of the weight of one-half real was obtained. Six onzas of
quicksilver were lost.
[5.] That day, the eleventh of the said month, in a second refinement,
the dust and sediment that remained from a quintal of the same ore
was put on the fire. On being fused with twenty-three libras of lead,
nothing was obtained from the said assay.
_Quicksilver_. 6. Saturday, the thirteenth of the said month of April,
one libra of quicksilver was incorporated with two and one-half
arrobas of ore obtained from certain excavations found below the
earth inside a little hut, near our fort and the said mine, which was
burned by the Igolotes. On the eighteenth of the month it was washed,
and a grain of gold weighing one real was obtained; and three onzas
of quicksilver were lost.
_Quicksilver_. 7. Tuesday, the sixteenth, four libras of quicksilver
were incorporated with four quintals of ore obtained at a depth of
ten or eleven estados in the said mine and hole. Having made that
assay in a stove, on the twenty-second of the said month of April
they washed the said four quintals of ore, and obtained a grain of
gold of the weight of one real. Two onzas of quicksilver were lost.
_Quicksilver_. 8. Wednesday, the seventeenth, one libra of quicksilver
was incorporated with one quintal of the said ore, obtained at a depth
of eleven estados. Having been treated in a reverberating furnace, on
the twenty-second of the said month it was washed and a small grain
of gold of barely the weight of half a real was obtained. Three and
one-half onzas of quicksilver were lost.
_Quicksilver_. 9. Thursday, April eighteen, they recrushed and washed
the sweepings and residue of the first three quintals of ore which
had been compounded with quicksilver. With the one quintal that
resulted therefrom, they incorporated on the said day one libra of
quicksilver. On the twenty-second it was washed, and for the second
time a small grain of gold was obtained of the weight of one-quarter
real. Two and one-half onzas of quicksilver were lost.
_Quicksilver_. 10. Wednesday, the twenty-fourth of the said month of
April, four libras of quicksilver were incorporated with four quintals
of ore, obtained from a passage or opening carefully concealed in
the bed of the streamlet, almost at the end of the said vein, and at
the end of the other openings in it on the northwest side, where it
obtains but very little sun and considerable dampness. It is an ore
that contains a quantity of antimony, and one can obtain much of it,
to judge from the works that the Ygolotes had, and those that we were
making, as it seemed an ore of fairly good appearance. Compounding
the assay of the said four quintals with salt and magistral, [60] the
compound was washed on the second of May following, and a grain of gold
of one-half real weight obtained. Two onzas of quicksilver were lost.
_Quicksilver_. 11. On the twenty-ninth of April, three libras of
quicksilver were incorporated with three quintals of ore obtained
from a washing-place made by the Ygolotes below the openings, and near
the preceding place. The compound was washed on the fifth of May, and
a grain of gold weighing one and one-half reals was obtained. Eight
onzas of quicksilver were lost.
_Quicksilver_. 12. On the third of the said month of May, one libra
of quicksilver was incorporated with one quintal of ore obtained from
the said hole and vein as the four preceding assays. Having been
crushed and burned in the openings before being incorporated with
the said quicksilver, it was washed on the sixth; a small grain of
gold, weighing less than one-half real, was obtained from that assay,
while three onzas of quicksilver were lost.
_Quicksilver_. 13. April twenty-nine, one libra of quicksilver was
incorporated with one quintal of ore obtained from the old mines,
of which I have made mention, called Baranaban. On May sixteen it
was washed, and a small grain of gold obtained of one-quarter real
weight. Three onzas of quicksilver were lost.
_Arisus. Quicksilver._ 14. Tuesday, April thirty, one libra of
quicksilver was incorporated with another quintal of ore obtained
from the said old mines called Arisey and Bugayona. On May seven
following it was washed, and a small grain of gold, weighing less
than one-quarter real, obtained. Two and one-half onzas of quicksilver
were lost.
_Quicksilver_. 15. The first of the said month of May, one libra of
quicksilver was incorporated with one quintal of ore obtained from
the said old mines and from those called Antamo. On the eighth of the
said month it was washed, and a small grain of gold about as large
as the head of a pin, which could not be weighed, obtained. Six onzas
of quicksilver were lost.
_Quicksilver_. 16. The said day, May first, one libra of quicksilver
was incorporated with one quintal of ore obtained from the said old
mines--from the one called Conog. On the eighth of the said month it
was washed, and another small grain of gold obtained, of the same
size as the preceding. Four onzas of quicksilver were lost in the
said assay.
_Quicksilver_. 17. May two, one-half libra of quicksilver was
incorporated with two arrobas of ore obtained from the vein and works
of the streamlet at the new mine mentioned above as being near our fort
of Santiago. Compounding that assay and calcination with magistral,
nothing was obtained. Three onzas of quicksilver were lost.
_Quicksilver_. 18. The said day, May two, another one-half libra of
quicksilver was incorporated with another half libra, I mean one-half
quintal, of ore obtained from the preceding opening and vein. It
was washed on the sixth of the said month, as also was the preceding
assay. Only a small grain of gold weighing one-fourth real was obtained
from that [mass] which was only compounded with quicksilver. Two and
one-half onzas of quicksilver were lost.
_Quicksilver_. 19. On the fifth of the same month of May three libras
of quicksilver were incorporated with three quintals of ore from the
first hole and mouth opened near our fort, as above stated. On the
twelfth of the said month it was washed, and a grain of gold weighing
scarcely one real obtained. Two onzas of quicksilver were lost.
_Quicksilver_. 20. Saturday, May eleven, one-half libra of quicksilver
was incorporated with two arrobas of ore obtained from an enclosure
found at one-half legua's distance from our fort and the new mine, on
the edge of a river. It was washed on the sixteenth of the said month,
but nothing was found in it. One and one-half onzas of quicksilver
were lost.
_Quicksilver_. 21. On the fourteenth of the said month one libra of
quicksilver was incorporated with one quintal of ore obtained from a
passage which was discovered to have been worked by the Ygolotes in the
same vein and new mine, in its western part of which mention has been
made. The said vein extends to the southwest. The mixture was washed on
the eighteenth of the said month, and a small grain of gold, weighing
one-half real, was obtained. One-half onza of quicksilver was lost.
_Quicksilver_. 22. On Thursday, May nine, three libras of quicksilver
were incorporated with three quintals of ore obtained from the first
hole and vein of the new mine, of which mention has been made. May
nineteen it was washed, and a small grain of gold, of one-third real
weight, obtained. Twelve onzas of quicksilver were lost.
_Smelting_. 23. Monday, the twentieth of the said month, another
assay was made by fusing one quintal of litharge [61] and two of ore
obtained from the said hole and vein preceding. From the said mixture,
although they tried it several times, it was impossible to fuse or melt
the said ore. On the contrary, there was a loss of the lead consumed
with the said litharge, and the mixture continued to be consumed;
so that having been exhausted and the oven having become clogged,
it was necessary to stop without succeeding with the said assay. They
attributed that to the said ore being unfit for smelting.
_Quicksilver_. 24. Thursday, May twenty, two libras of quicksilver
were incorporated with one and one-half quintals of ore obtained from
a depth of fourteen estados in the said vein and hole which was opened
as above stated. On the twenty-fifth of the said month it was washed,
and a small grain of gold, weighing one-half real, was obtained. Two
onzas of quicksilver were lost.
_Smelting_. 25. Sunday, May twenty-six, a second assay by smelting
was made with three quintals of litharge and one of _tesmiquitate_,
[62] refined; both were fluxed with three quintals of ore obtained from
the second hole or passage above mentioned as being near the level of
the streamlet in the said vein and new mine. That was a second and
different compound and was made by smelting and with the said flux;
but they were unable to fuse the ore, although many efforts were
exerted. It was useless because of the poor quality that the miners
ascribed to the said ore. Finding that there was considerable loss
and waste of the lead, they had to desist.
_Smelting_. 26. Monday, May twenty-six, a third assay was made by
refining or smelting, by feeding the dust that was left from one
quintal of ore, obtained at a depth of fourteen or more estados from
the first vein and hole which, I have said, was opened in the said
new mine. Having consumed twenty-five libras of lead, upon which the
metal melted, a grain resulted that resembles silver, and weighs one
and one-half reals. [63]
The said tests or assays having been made and finished, the lay
of the land, and its natives and mines, having been examined, and
having obtained a quantity of ore from all the mines, I left the
said presidio and fort of Santiago well fortified with a garrison of
fifty-six Spaniards and fifty Indians--twenty-five from the province of
Pangasinan and twenty-five from that of Ylocos--eleven galley negroes,
and one armorer, with food and all other things necessary for more
than fifteen months. Then, with the said last division of the said
five hundred Indians, who, as I have made mention, were to be sent me
by a lieutenant by the twenty-fourth of May, I set about my descent,
carrying with me, by the end of the said month, one hundred quintals of
the said ore; this I am sending to the city of Manila in four hundred
small rice-baskets, each numbered with the mine whence it was taken,
so that proof may be made there of the efforts mentioned above;
since it is the self-same ore, the governor and captain-general,
the royal Audiencia, and the royal officials can confirm it anew and
make the tests again, so that, understanding the said mines fully,
they may report to his Majesty, and resolve upon the measures that
they deem fitting in regard to the holding of the said presidio in
a land of so little or no profit as is that land.
_Alonzo Martin Quirante_
_Act_. In the camp of new mines and the fort of Santiago of the
Ygolotes, on the twenty-ninth day of the month of March, one thousand
six hundred and twenty-four, Captain and Sargento-mayor Alonso Martin
Quirante, chief magistrate of the province of Pangasinan and military
commandant of that province and of that of Ylocos, in whose charge is
the conquest or pacification of the Ygolote Indians, and the discovery,
working, and opening of their mines, declared that inasmuch as he was
ordered by Governor and Captain-general Don Alonso Fajardo de Tença,
he has come for the said purpose of the said conquest, pacification,
and discovery of the said mines. And inasmuch as he had been informed
by experienced men that the productive mines, to which the said natives
are giving most attention at the present time, are the new ones among
them called Galan, he has located and planted upon them the said camp
and fort of Santiago, so that, having made a fort among them and
placed in safety his men, food supply, and other military stores,
he might make expeditions and explore the other mines of which he
has or may have information that the said Ygolotes have profitably
worked, or can work, throughout all this region. He declared that it
should be ascertained what ore could be obtained from those mines,
and the amount of metal that should result from them, and the loss of
materials that should be allotted for their treatment. He ordered me,
the present scribe, to make and prepare a blank book in which to set
down as evidence, with the day, month, and year, the assays of the
said ores obtained from such mines, and the materials used in their
treatment; and that this act be placed at the head of such evidence,
which should therefore be given, in the said manner, so that it might
be seen for all time. Thus did he decree and order, and he affixed
his signature. I, the said scribe of this said camp of mines and
forces of Santiago, attest it.
_Alonso Martin Quirante_
Before me:
_Alonso Callexas_
_Attestation_. 1. I, Alonso Callexas, scribe of these new mines of
Santiago of the Ygolotes, in fulfilment of the order given me by the
said act above declared, having made this blank book, do hereby attest
faithfully and truly, that today, Saturday, at ten o'clock at night,
or thereabout, the thirtieth of this current month of March, one
thousand six hundred and twenty-four, the first assay was finished
by Alférez Martin de Vergara, of the company of the said captain
and sargento-mayor Alonso Martin Quirante, in the presence of Juan
de Mugaburu, Rodrigo Lopez Orduña, Grabiel Molinero, and Diego de
Tovar, all miners. The assay was for one-half quintal of ore which
was obtained from a hole made in these new mines from the crust of
the earth to the openings and veins whence the said Ygolote Indians
evidently had been and were obtaining it, and when we had dug down
about ten estados. The said assay was made by refining, by feeding
[the dust of the ore] upon sixteen libras of lead. From it was
obtained a grain that resembled silver, which, having been weighed
by me, weighed a trifle more than one real. In order that that may
be evident, I gave the present at the petition of the said captain
and sargento-mayor, who, together with the said alférez, affixed
his signature. Witnesses were Licentiate Augustin Tabuyo Baldicañas,
cura and vicar in this said camp and fort, Adjutant Andres Tamayo,
Alférez Don Joseph de Renteria, and many others who were present at
this royal camp and fort of Santiago, where this is dated on the said
Saturday, March thirty, one-thousand six hundred and twenty-four.
_Alonso Martin Quirante_
_Martin de Vergara_
Before me: _Alonso Callejas_, scribe.
[Twenty-five other attestations, one for every following assay after
the first, all similar to the above, follow. The document continues:]
_Attestation_. 27. I, Alonso Callejas, scribe of these said new mines
and fort of Santiago among the Ygolotes, attest and witness truly
that the twenty-six assays contained in these six leaves and in this
form, are of the mines and ores declared therein; and that from the
said mines, in my presence, of which I give attestation, one hundred
quintals of ore, besides that used in the said assays, were taken by
order of Captain and Sargento-mayor Alonso Martin Quirante, in order
to send them to the city of Manila, by Alférez Martin de Vergara,
Juanes de Mugaburu, Graviel Molinero, Rodrigo Lopez Orduña, and Diego
de Tovar, all miners. Accordingly that ore, having been weighed by
me, is being carried in four hundred small rice-baskets of an arroba
apiece--so that, since they are from the same ores as those from which
the said assays have been made, the governor and captain-general, Don
Alonso Faxardo de Tença, and the royal officials may have the assays
made again in the said city; and so that, with verification of the
efforts that have been made in these mines, they may understand and
see the truth concerning and the possibilities of the mines of the
Ygolotes of which we have as yet had notice, and that have been worked
or may be worked all about this said camp and for some leguas about
it. And so that it may be evident, I gave the present at the petition
of Captain and Sargento-mayor Alonso Martin Quirante, who affixed
his signature together with the above mentioned miners. Witnesses
were Licentiate Agustin Tabuyo Baldecañas, Captain Joan de Salinas,
and Adjutant Andres Tamayo, while in this camp of new mines and the
fort of Santiago, where this is dated on the twenty-seventh day of
the month of May, one thousand six hundred and twenty-four.
_Alonso Martin Quirante_
_Martin de Vergara_
_Juanes de Mugaburu_
_Rodrigo Lopez Orduña_
_Diego de Tovar_
_Graviel Molinero_
Before me:
_Alonso Callejas_, scribe.
By order of the captain and sargento-mayor, Alonso Martin Quirante,
chief justice of this province of Pangasinan and military commandant
of it and of the province of Ylocos, I, the present scribe, ordered
to be drawn and drew this copy of the original attestations and
investigations which were made for the said purpose. It is a true
and faithful copy, and has been collated and revised with the said
originals which were sent to the said governor and captain-general
of these islands, Don Alonso Fajardo de Tenga. In the copy, for its
greater validity, the said captain and sargento-mayor interposed his
authority and judicial decree in due form, and so that it might be
credited in and out of court. And he affixed his signature, witnesses
being Alférez Alonso Tellez de Prado, Sargento Domingo Ruiz, and
Captain Joan de Salinas, who were present in this village of Alingayen,
where this is given on the fifth day of the month of June, one thousand
six hundred and twenty-four.
_Alonso Martin Quirante_