Mining for gold was unquestionably practiced in the Philippines long before the time of Magellan, and incredible stories were told by Spanish conquerors of the rich deposits on the islands, and of the weight and beauty of the bracelets, necklets, and anklets of pure metal worn by the natives. But the cruelty and robberies of Mexico and Peru were repeated there, and the Indians yielded their jewels and hoards to the ruthless conqueror.

Galleon after galleon sailed to Spain laden with the precious dust, and enormous rewards were bestowed upon pilot and captain that should convoy the treasure safely home. Winds, waves, and rocks were not the only enemies of the Spanish mariner, either. England has always had a hankering for the Philippines, and her fleets accordingly went out of their way many a time to despoil Spain. In his voyage round the world, Sir Francis Drake seized two prize-ships filled with island-gold, in token of whose riches one of his cruisers swaggered into the port of London with damask sails and silken cordage. And in the eighteenth century Anson’s fleet hovered for years in the neighborhood of the Philippines, a rich prize occasionally his reward.

The mining laws of the colony are extremely liberal in character; almost any one—Spaniard, native, or foreigner—that discovers a mine, and reports it to the Government, is allowed to work it. Certain regulations exist, however, that must be strictly observed. The mine has to be worked uninterruptedly eight months of the year; no less than eight laborers shall be employed at a time; and it must be under the inspection of the Mining Department of the State.

The gold of these islands is produced by washing and digging. The tools that the natives use—a washing-board and a wooden bowl—are of great antiquity, and are invariably seen among the household utensils in the gold regions. Large deposits of gold are found in the beds of streams, and sometimes, after heavy rains, grains of the precious metal may be picked up in the streets of the small villages.

No Indian ever works systematically, or lays up anything for a possible future time of need. The tax-gatherer is at hand, and in a desultory way the native manages to get sufficient of the wherewithal to satisfy his greed. Or a holiday approaches, and there must be a few dollars to gamble away in the cock-pit. All this is done in the intervals of other work,—the planting of his own land, or the gathering of the rice-harvest for his employer. The gold lies about him, upon which he can draw at pleasure for his extra relaxations or needs. It is always there, has always been, will always be there. Why should he trouble himself further?

Mining, scientifically considered, as carried on in Europe and in America, is unknown in the Philippines. Nevertheless, from the first, so far as draining is concerned, operations have been conducted on sound engineering principles. The natives cling to ancient customs, and reject explosives of every sort, using instead the work of myriads of human hands; but they have been rewarded by obtaining thousands of ounces of gold.

For instance, in draining the mines, the shafts are filled with men that bail out the water with small buckets made of palm leaf, and holding about two gallons. These are passed from hand to hand, and this seems to serve their purpose quite as well as a more modern method. To an Anglo-Saxon the slowness of the process would, of course, be intolerable. The natives wash the river-sands, or grind the alluvial deposits between stones. In the latter instance the whole mass is thrown into grates, when the metal sinks to the bottom. In the mines the rocks are broken with hammers, and the quartz pulverized between mill-stones; then dissolved. By this means the gold is separated.

The inhabitants of one province cut a basin in the top of a mountain and conducted water to it through canals of palm-leaf. As they dug, the stratifications of gold revealed themselves and the quartz was detached. In another province a hillock has been cut down to sea-level, and large quantities of paying quartz must have been obtained, as the natives never work long without reward.

Mambulao is on the island of Luzon. It means in Bicol language, “the place of gold.” Here is an abandoned mine, worked by the ancient methods. The records say that, in its time, it produced weekly sales of gold, amounting to one thousand ounces.

On the other hand, the Spaniards have conducted their mining operations without enterprise and without ingenuity, and during the last twenty-five years they have spent nearly a million and a half dollars, with results that are totally unsatisfactory.

There are several reasons for this state of affairs: The gold mines are mostly in remote provinces of the colony, and there are no practical roads. The natives that are employed—because they live in the vicinity of the mines—are half-subjected, totally uncivilized, and frequently nomadic. They accordingly resent interference with property that they deem their inalienable rights. And in this they are supported by the friars: they also dislike change.

Since 1894 the agents of the Philippines’ Mineral Syndicate—an English concern—have been vigorously exploring for gold and the other metals, and in time American capital and intelligence will probably do what Spanish ignorance and inertness have failed to accomplish.

Till now, much of the gold found has been near the coast, and accessible. The principal districts are Mambulao, in Luzon, the islands of Cion, Mindoro, Mindanao, and Panaon, a small island north of Mindanao. It is a well-known fact that the natives in the interior of Luzon, a district only partly explored, traffic in gold. And it is believed that the mountains in the centre of the island are the sources of the alluvial deposits so freely gathered. In the districts mentioned there is not a stream—however small—that does not bear in its sands some evidence of the presence of gold; and heavy nuggets are occasionally brought in from the interior.

For the present, however, only the edges of the gold districts can be worked. The absence of roads must long prove an insuperable obstacle even to English and American capital and inventiveness. To the Indians this is no obstacle at all. They march along contentedly, in single file, cutting their way with bowie-knives through dense and almost impenetrable forests, their burden the primitive instruments of their ancestors; their power lying in numbers, and in the invincible strength of the naked hand.

But modern methods require machinery, and machinery requires roads for its transportation and for bridges, and for all the costly engineering staff and outfit. The proper development of the gold districts of the islands will therefore, necessarily, be a thing of the future. English or American enterprise, if devoted to this purpose, must find its reward near the coast, and in the vicinity of harbors and navigable rivers.

So far, gold is known only in placer-deposits, and these not very rich, as compared with the golden sands of California or the gravel pits of Alaska. Personally, I know but little about these gold gravels, having seen only some of their results. They are so widely distributed, and are worked in so desultory a manner, that their actual richness is a matter of guess-work.

But, as is well known, the gold of streams comes from quartz-veins in the mountains, which have been worn away and washed down by the rains during the long ages, then carried down stream, with the mud and the gravel of the rock dÉbris, and gradually sinking to the bottom. There may be rich rock-veins in the interior, at the head of those gold-paved water channels. But I have made no search for these mother-beds; neither have the Spanish.

Many Chinese enter the gold districts, penetrating into the most distant parts, and exchanging their wares for gold, which is sent to China in ways known to themselves alone. Paracale is a prosperous village in the interior of Luzon, and “Paracale” gold is well known in Manila on account of its shape,—the metal being melted in shells, that give it form. Every small shell bears the mark of the Chinese testing-auger; its fineness seldom exceeds sixteen carats. Paracale is near the Mambulao district, already mentioned, and is famous for its abandoned mine and for its gold-washings.

In fact, the whole country waits in virgin richness to be exploited by a wide-awake people, and now the outcome of the land falls into the hands of the Americans. In my own mind I am convinced that gold is to be had in paying quantities for the mining, if hunted for by some of that enterprising people that have recently dug up such wealth in the frozen river-beds of the Yukon. Spain held California for centuries, and picked up not even an ounce of gold from its broad acres. The Americans, on the other hand, found it teeming with gold; and in the first year of their possession too.

The same may be said of Alaska. Russia found it hardly worth the keeping, and sold it at a low price to the United States. To-day it could not be bought back for a hundred times the price paid for it.

Such may prove to be the case with the Philippines. They wait to be exploited. Spain has held them for centuries, and knows next to nothing about them. I venture to affirm that the United States would not hold them ten years before they would be veritable mines of wealth. I am satisfied, too, that they are far richer in gold, iron, coal, and some other minerals than is suspected. But this can be proved only by a stirring people, that will cut their way through the tropical jungles, explore the hill-country from base to summit, and cover the islands with a network of rails,—the iron nerves of modern enterprise.

The country sadly needs opening up and developing. It is running over with rich possibilities. But it wants brains and hands. I know that it can be made enormously prolific if proper energy be devoted to the task.

An English engineer, in the employ of the Mineral Syndicate, told me that in some gold alluvial-deposits brought to him by the aborigines in the interior of Luzon, he had discovered small stones. Subsequent investigations and tests proved them to be rubies and hyacinths. Granted. But I have never heard of precious stones outside of that district; nor do I believe they exist in any quantity there.

There is plenty of iron, of excellent quality, in Luzon and in the other islands. There are some deserted mines near Manila that were once worked by the Government; but they have been idle for more than a century. About the year 1750, by promises of great concessions to the State, a Spaniard named Salyado obtained possession of a large iron mine in the district of MÓrong. Finding the Indians too indolent to help him, he hired Chinese. He was then attacked by the Church, on the score of employing infidel labor, and eventually he was obliged to send his workmen back to China at his own expense. He was further refused a market for his ore, because, it was said, it was the result of infidel labor. Hence, he found himself ruined. The Government thus adopted a plan to get the valuable mine into its own hands again, after which its interest ceased.

Near Angat, early in this century, two Englishmen introduced expensive machinery, and proceeded to mine for iron. They were so cheated by the natives, and received so little in return for the large sums expended, that they simultaneously committed suicide, by blowing out their brains.

Copper is found in many parts of the Philippines, but in very small quantities. In the mountain-ranges in the centre of Luzon, however, deposits have been worked by the natives from a time long before that of the Spaniards. They soften the rocks by wood fires and then make excavations, separating the ore according to quality. Their furnaces are holes lined with clay, and they use blowers of bamboo to produce the necessary draught.

The Spaniards recently took hold of the mines, introducing the most expensive machinery and the latest methods; but they failed where the natives had succeeded, and their enterprise collapsed. The Indians still work them on a small scale.

The engineers of the syndicate also found a very curious deposit of copper in one of their concessions. This consists of round or pear-shaped nuggets of the metal, with traces of both gold and silver in their composition.

The Archipelago is said to be of volcanic formation, and unlimited quantities of sulphur exist on many of the islands. Red lead, silver, and gypsum were also found, and marble, capable of a high polish.

There are extensive coal fields in Luzon and CebÚ, but it is mostly of a poor quality, known by the trade as lignite. It is used in coaling steamers, but not when long voyages are to be taken. Five thousand tons per month could be procured in CebÚ alone, if carriage were provided; yet nearly all the coal used is imported from Australia.

A few years ago an American vessel was wrecked on the coast of Mindoro. The captain and his men crossed to a port on the east coast, over the mountains, living for seventeen days in the woods on nuts. They reported great ledges of out-cropping coal in the hill-country, and that thousands of tons had broken off and fallen to the foot of the cliffs. The Spanish Government immediately confiscated the lands;—and that was the last of the matter.

The coal field in Luzon lies in the southern part. A lead cropping out at Gatho is from ten to twenty feet in thickness. This has proved useful for steamboat service. The coal of CebÚ was first discovered in 1827. It is found on the western slopes of the island, and seemingly extends under the straits, appearing again on the eastern slopes of the neighboring island, Negros. At least five beds have been opened, which vary in quality and thickness; but exploration has not been actively conducted.

Once more: The Spanish masters of the island have done little to develop its mineral resources. It is therefore impossible to say how rich it may be in coal. The find reported by the American captain lies fallow, no effort having been made even to prove its truth or to test its value. It was in the mountainous interior, and, hence, would demand railroads and other public improvements for its working, and the Spanish find it more convenient to enjoy life lazily in Manila than to disturb their easy existence by any such activity.

To those minerals mentioned I may add quicksilver, lead, sulphate, and vermilion. As yet, the veins of lead and quicksilver have yielded no results of value, and probably they possess none. But they have been discovered in many localities and may be found in others; possibly, too, of greater richness.

Perhaps the iron of the Philippines offers the best opening for enterprise. As I have said, it occurs in many sections, and is of excellent quality, pure and rich, but it was actually worked a century ago with more energy than it is to-day. It is capable of yielding great results to an enterprising people. The Philippines fell like a rich jewel into the hands of Spain, but have been left by them in their uncut state. They remain like a rough diamond, needing only the work of the lapidary—America—to show to the world their full beauty and value.