thorough investigation, and, should they be developed on an extensive scale, will soon solve the fuel and power questions which at present are prominent among the serious problems confronting those interested in the development of the rich virgin resources of the Archipelago. Gold is found in many localities in the Archipelago in regions extending from northern Luzón to central Mindanao. In most cases the gold is detrital and found either in existing water courses or in stream deposits now deserted by the current. These last are adapted to hydraulic mining. There has been no gold mining, properly so called, in the Archipelago up to the present time. The mining regions have never been thoroughly prospected, and even where valuable deposits are known to exist they are worked, if at all, in a haphazard and intermittent manner. The indications now are that the near future will inaugurate a great change in the mining industry. There are at present many prospectors and practical miners scattered throughout the different islands of the Archipelago, the larger percentage of whom are Americans. They are for the most part men of good character. They are pushing their way into the more inaccessible regions, furnishing their own protection, and are prospecting in a manner and to an extent never before paralleled in the history of the Philippine Islands. There is no doubt that mining for the precious metals was practiced in the Islands long before the advent of the Spaniards. It is quite probable that the alluvial deposits, accessible to the early Chinese and Malay traders, who had intercourse with the Islands long before they were known to the Europeans, have been to a great extent worked over and over again. The tools which the natives use a washing board and a wooden bowl-are of great antiquity. Bowlders and fragments of quartz with visible gold occur in many alluvial deposits in the Islands, and it is not likely that the natives would have thrown them aside without endeavoring to extract the gold. Their method is to pulverize the quartz by hand and wash it as they wash the auriferous gravel and sand. The only improvement in this rude process is the introduction by the Spaniards in some districts of the Mexican "arrastra," a block of rock moved by buffalo power like a millstone on a nether block. Float gold and auriferous pyrites are lost by this process, and it is doubtful whether to this day the natives are aware of the auriferous character of the pyrites which almost always accompany the auriferous quartz, sometimes in not inconsiderable proportions. The most important gold fields are three in number. The most northerly lies about Mount Data, in the country of the Igorrotes. The second and best-known district is that of Camarines Norte, about 115 miles southeast of Manila and accessible by sea. The third region is in the northeastern part of Mindanao and the adjacent small islands. The following note on gold in Luzón was compiled by Mr. Luis Espina from the records of the Inspección de Minas in Manila, of which he was in charge in 1898: Gold is found in moderate quantities nearly all over the Island of Luzón, but more particularly and under conditions favorable for exploitation in the following townships and districts, proceeding from north to south: 1. Abra Province. 2. Village named Fidelisan, Bontoc Province. 3. Village named Suyuc, Lepanto Province. 11. Village named Peñaranda, Nueva Ecija. In the Province of Abra gold is found in alluvial deposits, and in the sands of the river of the same name, as grains, and has an average fineness of 0.750 to 0.792. In the Province of Lepanto gold occurs in three different ways—in veins, in alluvial deposits, and in river sands. Its fineness is from 0.792 to 0.833, and it is somewhat light colored because of a considerable silver content. It is usually accompanied by ores of silver, copper, iron, and lead. In the Provinces of Bontoc and Benguet the deposits are in all respects analagous to those of Lepanto. In the Province of Nueva Ecija the gold is exceedingly pure, brilliant in color, and 0.958 fine. It is found as rounded particles in alluvium and sometimes in small crystals. The Igorrotes, who inhabit Abra, Bontoc, Lepanto, and Benguet, are extraordinarily reticent about their gold mining. Nearly two hundred years ago Morga wrote that the "Yglotes" would not permit the Spaniards access to the mines. Even Semper, who was on intimate terms with the Filipinos, was not allowed to visit any gold mines in the Cordillera Central. An Englishman of long residence in northern Luzón, who had handled much Igorrote gold commercially, states that no outsiders of any race were permitted to visit quartz mines or even to prospect for quartz, though they were sometimes allowed to wash gravels in the streams of the Agno and the Abra River basins. The Igorrotes themselves are gifted with mechanical skill and are not afraid of solid rock, and it is to be inferred that their quartz mining, though crude, is tolerably effective. The great topographical accentuation of their country favors tunnel drainage and must enable them in many cases to dispense with pumping or bailing. This northern field, as noted, lies in a region of crystalline schists and older massive rocks, and there is no known indication that neo-volcanic rocks are associated with the quartz veins so as to lead to the hypothesis that the gold deposits are related to these eruptions. Indeed, throughout the Archipelago the geological phenomena point to an age at least as great as the Mesozoic for the greater part of the gold. The gold district of Camarines Norte is also in the gneissic rocks. Here are found quartz veins carrying, besides gold, iron pyrite, copper pyrite, galena, zinc blende, and sometimes lead chromate. At Labó, Centeno mentions that native copper is sometimes observed in the veins, and Morga states that the gold is alloyed with the copper. The general direction of the veins in this region is north and south except those of Gumihan, and of Mount Lugas, which trend northwest. They are approximately vertical, and their width is from 1 to 5 inches, though at some points they are much wider, reaching to 3 or 4 hands (palmas), but in such cases they become poor in the precious metal. For pulverizing the ore the natives employ a species of trip hammer made by attaching a heavy stone to a sapling. A second stone answers for an anvil. After placing the quartz on the nether stone the workman pulls down the head, the elasticity of the sapling raising it again for another blow. The quartz crushed in this manner is ground in an arrastra, concentrated in a batea, and washed clean in a cocoanut shell. There are also numerous placer mines in this region, but they are not especially rich. Beach sands are also washed, and it is reported that gold is found in the wall rocks as well as in the veins, but this statement is doubted by careful observers. In Panay Mr. Abella gives a number of localities where gravels have been washed for gold which is known to exist at San Enrique and at Barótoc Viejo, in the Province of Iloilo. In Cebú there are old workings, and also at Pambujan on the Island of Sámar. On the Island of Panón, south of Leyte, there are mines of auriferous quartz that have yielded $6 or $7 per ton. The mystery of the unknown still hangs about Mindanao, though something has been recorded concerning its mineral resources. The known auriferous regions are two; one of them lies immediately south of the Bay of Macajalar on the north coast in the Province of Misamis; the other comprises the eastern coast range of the island in the Province of Surigao, but is only known to contain gold in promising quantities near the northern end of the range. Of the two districts, that of Misamis is the more famous. These auriferous deposits include veins, placers, and river sands. The veins, however, have been worked only to a limited extent in former times, either from lack of knowledge of that class of mining or lack of adequate machinery to treat the ore on an extensive scale. But little gold is secured from the river beds. The placers lie near the |