On March 20th, 1888, a clerk of Don Louis Génu, 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 quantity of what they collect is used to make ornaments, and passes from hand to hand instead of coin in payment of gambling debts, and stakes lost at cockfights. The Mestizos and Chinamen get hold of the rest and send it away surreptitiously, 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 title to the minerals underneath, which belong to the State. The owner can, however, obtain a title 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.