The Inhabitants of the PhilippinesSawyer, Frederic H.
History
The Inhabitants of the Philippines
Sawyer, Frederic H.
Ethnology -- Philippines; Philippines -- Social life and customs
Gold: Dampier--Pigafetta--De Comyn--Placers in
Luzon--Gapan--River Agno--The Igorrotes--Auriferous
quartz from Antaniae--Capunga--Pangutantan--Goldpits at
Suyuc--Atimonan--Paracale--Mambulao--Mount Labo--Surigao--River
Siga--Gigaquil, Caninon-Binutong, and Cansostral
Mountains--Misamis--Pighoulugan--Iponan--Pigtao--Dendritic gold
from Misamis--Placer gold traded away surreptitiously--Cannot
be taxed--Spanish mining laws--Pettifogging lawyers--Prospects
for gold seekers. Copper: Native copper at Surigao and
Torrijos (Mindoro)--Copper deposits at Mancayan worked by
the Igorrotes--Spanish company--Insufficient data--Caution
required. Iron: Rich ores found in the Cordillera of Luzon--Worked
by natives--Some Europeans have attempted but failed--Red
hematite in Cebú--Brown hematite in Paracale--Both red and
brown in Capiz--Oxydized iron in Misamis--Magnetic iron
in San Miguel de Mayumo--Possibilities. Coal (so called):
Beds of lignite upheaved--Vertical seams at Sugud--Reason
of failure--Analysis of Masbate lignite. Various Minerals:
Galena--Red lead--Graphite--Quicksilver--Sulphur Asbestos--Yellow
ochre--Kaolin, Marble--Plastic clays--Mineral waters.
It is a great mistake to suppose that nothing is known of the geology
and mineralogy of the Philippines, or that no attempts have been made
to exploit them.
The maps of the Archipelago are marked in dozens or hundreds of places,
coal, copper, lead, iron, gold, and a number of works treating of
the subject have been published. Amongst the authors are the mining
engineers, Don Enrique Abella and Don José Centeno. But some of their
most important reports are still in manuscript, for the revenues of
the Philippines were almost entirely absorbed in paying the salaries
of the officials, and there was a great disinclination to spend money
in any other way.
At the Philippine Exhibition, held at Madrid in 1887, more than
seven hundred specimens of auriferous earths or sand, gold quartz,
and ores of various metals were shown, and in this branch alone there
were 109 exhibitors from all parts of the Archipelago.
Besides ores there were the tools and utensils used by the miners,
and models of the furnaces and forges in which the metals were reduced
and worked, with the metals in different stages of concentration or
manufacture, and a complete show of the finished products.
A great many Mining Companies have been formed in Spain or in Manila
at different times which have all failed from a variety of causes,
want of skill, bad management, costly administration, or because the
richness of the vein or seam had been exaggerated.
The difficulty of getting labour is considerable, as mining is a work
the generality of natives do not care to take up, although in some
provinces they are used to it, for example, in Camarines Norte and
in Surigao.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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