Near Gapan in Nueva Écija more profitable washings are situated, and at times large numbers of men and women are to be seen at work, especially after a sudden flood has come down. The sands of the River Agno also yield gold, and the washing for it is quite an industry amongst the Pangasinan women about Rosales, but the return is said to be small. But after a north-westerly gale has heaped up the black sand at the mouth of this river in the Bay of Lingayen, the people turn out in numbers to wash it, and sometimes have better luck. But although these washings are poor, a considerable quantity of gold is obtained from the Igorrotes, and there is no doubt that these people have for centuries worked quartz veins or pockets, and that they only extract sufficient for their modest requirements in the way of purchasing cattle, cloth, and tools. They do not hoard any gold, for they say that it is safer in the mine than in their houses. When one of them requires a few ounces he goes to his mine, gets it out, and immediately proceeds to purchase what he wants. Possibly they do not consider the supply inexhaustible, and they have thought for to-morrow, or for those who will come after them. It is not their object to exhaust the bounties of nature in the shortest possible time.
When they have found a rich pocket they build a house over the pit, and when not at work they cover the hole with roughly-hewn planks or logs ; they take precautions in disposing of the detritus, so that it does not call attention from a distance.
In the Exhibition of 1887 the Comandante Politico-Militar of the Province of Benguet showed samples of auriferous quartz from Antaniac and from Capunga, also quartz with visible threads of gold from the latter place, also leaf gold from the veins, two specimens of auriferous quartz from Pangutantan with gold extracted from it, and gold-dust from the River Agno.
Other exhibits included specimens of gold-bearing rock from Lepanto and Infantas, and compact auriferous quartz from the celebrated gold-pits of Suyuc near Mancayan. All these quartz reefs are worked by the Igorrotes.
Gold is also found near Atimonan in Tayabas, but the neighbourhood of Paracale and Mambulao, and the slopes of Mount Labo are most famous in Manila.
During the last century large quantities of gold were taken from the surface-workings, which are now exhausted, or only afford a miserable living to the natives who treat the auriferous earths in a very primitive way.
The gold having been taken, the next thing was to use the reputation of the mines to attract capital, and this was done to some considerable extent, one company being founded on the ruins of another. One of the later ones was the “Ancla de Oro,” or Golden Anchor, but its capital was expended without results. The late Don Antonio Enriquez, a Spanish gentleman well-known to British and Americans in Manila, worked some mining properties there for some years, and had faith in them.
He consulted me about them, and I forwarded some samples of the ores to my agents in London, who had them analyzed by Messrs. Johnson & Matthey, but the results were not encouraging, and did not confirm the analysis made in Manila.
About 1890, Messrs. Peele, Hubbell & Co. got out an American mining expert, whose name I forget, but I believe he was a mining engineer of high standing. He spent some time at Mambulao and Paracale, and made a careful examination of the country. It was understood that his report did not encourage any further expenditure in prospecting or development. But of late years further attempts have been made to boom the place, and the Mambulao Gold Mining Syndicate, London, 1893, has been formed. I am unaware on what new information the promoters rely to justify their bringing this place again before the public.
Surigao, in the old kingdom of Caraga, is rich in gold which is very widely disseminated. Father Llovera, a missionary who, in March, 1892, made an excursion up the River Siga to visit some unbaptized Mamanúas in the mountains, declares that the sands contain much gold, so much so that particles were plainly visible. This river takes its rise in the eastern Cordillera, between Cantilan and Jabonga, and runs in a north-easterly direction into the southern part of Lake Mainit. The missionary also declares that veins of gold were visible in some of the pieces of rock lying in the bed of the river, which they broke to examine. But he does not seem to have brought back any specimens, as one would expect.