40 The Philippine Journal of Science 1922 
months, has been completed the work to follow will naturally 
suggest itself. A general reconnaissance should be made first; 
detailed mapping should not be attempted in the beginning. It 
is not necessary to go to the elaborate precautions of keeping 
extra barometers in camp in order to check the one used in 
the field; the dip or strike of an outcrop recorded with an 
accuracy of a degree will be close enough. Some geologists 
doing reconnaissance work in the Philippines make the mistake 
of attempting too much detail, and they waste time in trying 
to be precise. It is not necessary in route surveying to set up 
the instrument over a tack when an error of several feet could 
not be shown on the scale of the map. 
CONCLUSION 
While the geological conditions in the vicinity of the Pidatan 
oil seep are unfavorable and not much encouragement can be 
given for development in that particular locality, the writer is 
of the opinion that in near-by regions of central Mindanao, in 
the areas covered by sedimentary rocks, there is the possibility 
of locating oil structures; this can be determined by future geo- 
logical exploration. At this point the writer would caution those 
who are not initiated into the intricacies of the oil business that 
such geological exploration is absolutely essential. The large, 
successful concerns in the oil business to-day would not think of 
proceeding without such work. Yet, once in a while, one hears 
the man in the street say that he does not care for that sort of 
thing and that he wants a “practical” man. The writer is as 
appreciative as anyone else of the practical man in his field, but 
the work of the geologist is just as practical as that of the 
driller. It is simply a different kind of work, for which a very 
different sort of training is necessary, and because the layman 
does not understand the nature of the work he has no justifica- 
tion for calling it impractical. Often the so-called “prac- 
tical” man is the most impractical. Men who are well versed 
in this business know that both the geologist and the experienced 
driller are necessary to get the oil. Both are apt to make mis- 
takes, but when they work together they reduce the chances 
for error. 
APPENDIX 
Launches.—The Provincial Government launch Ripley, at 6 
pesos per hour, can reach Gocotan on the Maridagao, a tributary 
of the Rio Grande (Cotabato now), and also Kabacan at the 
junction of Cotabato and Kabacan Rivers, which are both above 
