The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-06-14
GOLD IN THE PHILIPPINES.


about gold in the Philippine Islands:
! how it is found near the sea shore:
! how, in every creek that empties into
! the ocean gold is found among its
| sands. There is nothing new in all this,
fer gold has been known to exist in
the islands ever since the days of their
| conquest. De Morga, whose work on
the Philippines was published in 1909,
speaks of the presence of gold in these
| terms: ------.--..-
All these islands are in many parts
rich in gold washinGs, and in ore OF
this metal, which the natives extract
and work; although since the Spaniards
are in the country. they proceed more
slowly with this, contenting themselves
with what they have already got in
jewels, and from a far distant time,
and inherited from their predecessors,
which is large quantity, for he must
be a very. poor and wretched person
Who does not possess any chains of
I gold, bracelets. and earrings.
In the province of Camarines, in Par
acali, they work some washings and
mines, where there is good gold upon
copper, also in Yloces this merchandise
Is dealt in, because at the back of this
province, which is on the edge and
coast of the sea, there are some high
and craggy mountain ranges, which
run as far as Cagayan, on the slopes Of
which many islanders dwell, in the in
terror Of the country; these are not yet
subdued, Tor has any entrance been
made amongst them; they are named
YSolotes. These possess rich mines, and
many OF them gold upon silver, from
these theY extract only. as much as
they require for their wants; and they
descend with this god, without COM
pleting it's refinement or bringing it to
perfection, to trade with Ylocos in GER
tain places. where they exchange the
gold for rice, swine and bufaloes.
wraps and other things of which they
are deficient; ard the Ylocos finish the
refining it, and getting it ready, and
by their means. it is dispersed over the
whole country. And although steps
have been taken with these YgoioteS to
discover their mines, and how they
work them, and the method they pos
sess for extracting the metal, there has
been no means OF knowing it: because
they are apprehensive Of the Spaniards,
who would go to look them up for the
sake of the sold; and they say that
they keep it better taken care of in
the earth than in their houses.
In the other islands there is the same
plenty of mines and gold washings, es-
pecially in the Pintados, river of BO-
tuan, in Mindanao, and in Sebu, where
a mire is worked and gold extracted.
named TaribOn, and if the industry
and labor of the Standards were APP
piled TO working the gold mines, as
much would be extracted from any of
these isles. as from the other provinces
in the rest of the world: but attending
to other gains more than to this, as
Will be said in its place, this was not
attempted with design or purpose.
There is gold in the Philippines, and
try. Some of the earlier governors,
particularly Guido de Labazarris, sent
soldiers to search for gold in the prov
ince of Pangasinan, and they discovered
the mines, but returning in a sickly
state, they suppressed all knowledge of |
their discoveries, that they might not
be sent back. It was also the policy of
the Dominican monks to suppress all |
knowledge of the mines, on account of !
the tyranny of which gold had been the |
ca use in the West Indies. Mr.. Stanley, !
the editor Of De Morga, considers that /!
the absence of gold in any large guam /
titles is one of the causes that have
done much to. secure a well-ordered and /
contented population in the Philippines.
1t is strange that the Spaniards have +
not exploited the gold resources of the
islands, and that they did not there
the same method for extract
ing gold that Pizarro employed in Peru.
With the American soldiers that go to
Manila are some hundreds. if not thou
sands OF practical miners, and when
their term of enlistment expires most
If them viii probably turn their atten-
ion to prospecting the mineral re-
sources Of the islands. The ysolotes
and other tribes will not deter them
rom penetrating into the heart of the
various islands and to the tops Of the
oftiest mountains. The next decade
will probably see more prospecting in
he Philippines than has been do2e
here since Magellan discovered them.