Where the Precious Metal is Found.
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.
Another Glimpse of the Great Stone-bridge.
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.
La Laguna Lake: The Neighborhood of a Gold Discovery.