34 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TPtAVEL 



The active craters are numerous, the extinct innumerable, 

 and there is scarcely an island which does not give 

 evidence of volcanic action. Although hot springs are 

 less frequently met with than in Japan, they are by no 

 means rare, and fumaroles and solfataras join with the 

 frequent earthquakes to remind the traveller that he can 

 scarcely consider himself upon terra lirma. Throughout 

 the archipelago raised sea-beaches and coralline lime- 

 stones testify to the general upheaval that has taken 

 place in recent years. 



But though volcanic action has had so much to do with 

 the creation of the archipelago, it must not be supposed 

 that the islands are all basalts, tuffs, and upheaved coral- 

 line rock. The greater part of them is now known to 

 comprise gneiss and schists and other metamorphic rocks, 

 and granites, stratified sandstone, and conglomerates in the 

 north of Luzon and other places. Gold seems to exist 

 over a wide area, though not in any great quantities, and 

 the beds of many rivers show " colour." That the metal 

 has been known for some centuries is evident from Piga- 

 fetta's diary of Magellan's voyage, where the natives are 

 described as wearing gold ornaments, and offering to pre- 

 sent the Captain-General with a bar of the metal. Mines 

 are worked after a fashion in several places, the richest 

 quartz being in the provinces of Benguet and Camarines 

 Norte. At Misamis and other places in Mindanao a fair 

 amount of the metal is produced. Copper is also abun- 

 dant, especially in Lepanto, and the ore has been dug and 

 smelted by some of the native tribes for as long as the 

 islands have been known to Europeans, their vessels, 

 ornaments, and weapons being commonly made of the 

 metal. At Camillas, near Mount Data in north Luzon, 

 are copper mines which should pay well, but for the 

 expenses of transport and fuel. Lead occurs in Zebu, and 



