Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1899-03-24

o;a Santa Tomasa" is not only q
treat Init an instructive diversion
and agreeable recreation. There
are 164. 900 specimens of fishes, an
imals. birds, coral and mineral;
woods. fruits, grains and vegeta-
bles; pagan gods that were wor-
shipped before Magellan made his
famous trip around the continent
of South America, spears, ar
rows. shields and other parapher-
MALTA of war that might have been
used to accomplish his destruction
a short time after-at least they
look ancient enough.
There are human and brute
monsters in the department OF anat-
omy that would make Grangeville
prohibitionist think he had been
out with the boys, and thousands
of skeletons representing the an
imal kingdom, from the lowest
vertebrates to the human being.
The historical relics bear a strong
family resemblance to collections
Of our own Indian relics, and would
force one to believe that there was
some connection between the two
races, be it ever SO remote. In the
fish department there are ''tad-
poles'' and whales, and every size
fish between them, either stuffed or
in alcohol; but they are SO numer-
GUS that / would be "sucker" to
try to describe them. Our own
bear. buffalo, moose, elk and deer
are here as large as life, also the
American eagle, with several
thousand specimens of stuffed ami
mails and birds from all parts of the
world. There are birds and mice
about the size of house-aies, with
condors, ostriches and elephants.
The grains are principally several
kinds of rice, peas, corn and rye;
the fruits are Of every variety and
size, but I do not know the names
of them; they, like everything else
here, are catalogued in Spanish and
Latin. OF course the mineral is
what catches us Idaho fellows, and
the display is interesting enough to
hold our attention. The most
common among the precious metal
bearing mineral is the common
iron pyrite, or bi-sulphurett of
iron. Free gold, black sulphuretts
of silver and gold, black oxide of
copper with silver and gold, red
oxide Of copper, and chalco-pyrite,
in an arsenical iron matrix. The
quartz has very rich, kind, milky
appearance, with just about enough
crystalization. Samples of the
country rock show it to be sill
cious slate or shale, granite and
eruptive rock. We don't know
how the mines are situated, and
can't find out much as we cannot
read Spanish, or talk it for that
matter. The old priest in charge
of the mineral exhibit is certainly
a geologist or mineralogist, or has
had considerable experience in the
business. The way he has the dis
play arranged, numbered and cata-
logued, and makes signs Che can
talk very little English, shows
that he understands it thoroughly.
If he could talk better English, or
we could speak better Spanish, we
could gain some valuable Informal
ton. AS it is, we find that there
are several places on this island
(Luzon), where good quartz has
been found. One place on the
south end of the island an English
Indian company worked gold quartz
for several years, but the govern
ment made life miserable for them,
SO they closed down and broke up.
l understand all the stock is owned
by two or three old Englishmen in
Calcutta, who are rich enough with
out the Philippine mines, SO don t
bother with it. l was also told
that all the buildings and machin-
cry were carried away or destroyed
by the natives. In the northern
portion of the islands there are
several good quartz lodges, one
especially, and the mode Of work
ing it Cif l am informed right, is
a wonder. The ledge is stripped
and a fire built on top of it; when
the fire burns out the native own
ers (the fierce hill tribes), pour
water on the hot rock to break il.
then gather the pieces and pound
them up in hollow rock with a
smaller one, and wash the pulp in
a cocoanut she'll l haven't heard
what the output is, but 1 don't
think it is very large. The old
priest says they get considerable
gold even in this way.
Lodges of gold-bearing quartz
are known to exist in several other
places on this island, but when we
ask anyone about gold they always
Philippine, Spanish or
Engllsh-say the island of Min
danoa is the best mineral section Of
the Philippine group. that is for