The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 — Volume 20 of 55: 1621-1624; Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the Catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the close of the nineteenth century.
History
The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 — Volume 20 of 55: 1621-1624; Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the Catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the close of the nineteenth century.
Demarcation line of Alexander VI; Missions -- Philippines; Philippines -- Discovery and exploration; Philippines -- History -- Sources
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.
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