The Mining Laws, Reglamento de Minas, are of a liberal character and allow concessions to be made to any person, Spaniard, Indian, mestizo, naturalized or established foreigner, who shall discover and report the discovery of a mine, and undertake to work it. Sundry officials and all ecclesiastics are excluded from the privilege. The work must be entered upon in ninety days, under certain conditions; four months of continued suspension, or eight months of interrupted labour, within the year bring the loss of the conceded privilege. There must not be less than eight labourers employed. The mines are subjected to the inspection of the mining department The mining regulations were published by the Captain-General Claveria in January, 1846.

The gold of the Philippines is produced by washing and digging. In several of the provinces it is found in the rivers, and natives are engaged in washing their deposits. The most remarkable and profitable of the gold mines worked by the Indians are those of Tulbin and Suyuc. They break the rock with hammers, and crush it between two small millstones, dissolving the fragments in water, by which the gold is separated. They melt it in small shells, and it produces generally from eight to ten dollars an ounce, but its fineness seldom exceeds sixteen carats. It is found in quartz, but the nuggets are seldom of any considerable size. The inhabitants of Caraga cut in the top of a mountain a basin of considerable size, and conduct water to it through canals made of the wild palm; they dig up the soil while the basin is filling, which is opened suddenly, and exhibits for working any existing stratification of gold; these operations are continued till the pits get filled with inroads of earth, when they are abandoned; generally, when a depth has been reached which produces the most advantageous returns, the rush of waters conveys away much of the metal which would otherwise be deposited and collected. Gold is also found in the alluvial deposits which are ground between stones, thrown into water, and the metal sinks to the bottom. The rivers of Caraballo, Camarines, and Misamis, and the mountains of Caraga and Zebu, are the most productive. Many Indian families support themselves by washing the river sands, and in the times of heavy rains gold is found in the streets of some of the pueblos when the floods have passed. There can be no doubt of the existence of much gold in the islands, but principally in the parts inhabited by the independent tribes.

The Sociedad Exploradora is engaged in working gold-mines and washing auriferous sands in the province of New Ecija.

Gold dust is the instrument of exchange in the interior of Mindanao, and is carried about in bags for the ordinary purposes of life. The possession of California by the Spaniards for so many generations without the development of its riches may explain their inertness and indifference in the Philippines, notwithstanding the repeated averments of Spanish writers that the archipelago abounds in gold.

Iron also abounds, especially in the province of Bulacan; but it may be doubted whether it can be produced as cheaply as it may be imported, especially while roads are in so backward a state, and carriage charges so heavy. Many iron-works have been entered on and abandoned.

A coal-mine is being explored at Guila Guila, in the island of Zebu, on the river Mananga, at a distance of about six miles from the town of San Nicolas, which has nearly 20,000 inhabitants and is by far the largest town in the island. There are reported to be strata of coal from one to four feet in thickness. The proprietor informs me that he expects in the course of another year to be able to deliver coals on the coast at a moderate rate in Tangui, which is close to the town of Falisay.

Of the various objects of speculation, mining is probably the most attractive to the adventurer, from the high premiums which it sometimes brings to the successful. When the risk is divided among many shareholders, it partakes of the character of a lottery, in which the chances are proportioned to the stakes; but where, as in most of the mining speculations of the Philippines, the enterprises are conducted by individuals, without adequate means to overcome the preliminary difficulties and to support the needful outlay, disappointment, loss, ruin and the abandonment of probably valuable and promising undertakings are but of too frequent occurrence. I have before me some details of the attempts made to work the copper ores of Mancayan, in the district of Cagan (now called Lepanto), in South Ilocos (Luzon). They have been worked in the rudest way by the Igorrote Indians from time immemorial, and the favourable report of the richness of the ores which were sent to Europe led to renewed but inadequate attempts for their exploitation. A good deal of money has, I understand, been lost, without providing the necessary machinery for extracting the metal, or roads for its conveyance. A sample taken from a stratum ten feet in height and seven in breadth, on the side of a pit four yards deep, gave, as the results of an analysis, 44 per cent. of copper, 29 of sulphur, 18 of arsenic, and 9 of iron. The ruggedness of the rocks, the thickness of the forest jungle, the indolence of the natives, and, probably more than these, the absence of an intelligent direction and sufficient pecuniary resources, have produced much discouragement. Don Antonio Hernandez says there are 280 Indian (Igorrote) families occupied in Mancayan in copper digging and melting; that they only produce annually about 200 picos (of 137½ lbs. each), which they sell at from eight to nine dollars per pico on the spot; to the neighbouring Christian Indians at ten to twelve, who resell them on the coast at from thirteen to sixteen dollars.

The Indians in Ilocos and Pangasinan manufacture their own domestic utensils from the copper extracted by themselves.

Finely variegated marbles exist in the province of Bataan, and some have been used for ornamenting the churches; but their existence has excited little attention, and no sale was found for some large blocks quarried by a patriotic adventurer.

I have before mentioned that there are many mineral waters in the island—sulphurous and ferruginous—at Antipolo. In the Laguna there is a virgin patroness, whose festival lasts eighteen days, and immense crowds of all races come to drink the waters, and join the processions in her honour. The inhabitants of Manila attribute great virtues to the waters of Pagsanghan.