GOLD IN THE PHILIPPINES 467 



is struck the}^ bale it out with buckets, either pulling them up with 

 a rope or carrying them up a bamboo ladder. The gold-bearing rock 

 is emptied from the baskets into a concavit_y in a rock or large stone, 

 which serves as a mortar. The pestle or stamp consists of a stone 

 about 25 i)ounds in weight, which is tied with a strip of bejuco to the 

 end of a slender pole, which is rested obliquely against the fork of a 

 tree. The laborer, taking advantage of the elasticity of the pole, uses 

 it like a trip-hammer, and crushes the rock. The broken rock is then 

 pulverized in a rude mill, consisting of a rough stone roller, which is 

 revolved in a circular base by means of buffaloes. The pulverized 

 material is then washed, generally by women, until there remains 

 only a dark sediment, which is afterward smelted by placing it in a 

 shell, covering it with charcoal, and using a small piece of bamboo 

 as a blowpipe. 



A sample of the metal obtained by this imperfect process gave the 

 following analysis : 



Gold 77.94 



Silver 19.00 



Iron 05 



Silica 3.00 



Loss .01 



100.00 



Of course, the quantity of gold obtained is a very small fraction of 

 that carried by the ore, and as the gold is bartered to Chinese ped- 

 dlers and ambulant traders, the producers get but small return for 

 their labor and are miserably poor. The ground between the moun- 

 tains and the coast is mostly alluvial, and the village of Mambulao, 

 in this district, has long been noted Hn- the placer washings in its 

 vicinity. 



In the adjoining }M'ovince of Tayabas gold has also been A)un(l in 

 the hills or mountains around the town of Altimonan ; also in many 

 of the spurs of the Caraballo mountains, in alluvial deposits in the 

 Gapan country and in the sands of the I'ivers Ango and Angalacan, 

 in the province of Nueva Ecija, and in many places in the Car;i.l)a11() 

 de lialer cc)untry hetwetin tliat province and that of Nueva \'^is(;;iya. 

 On tlie island of Polillo, lying off the east coast, it has also Ix'cn ob- 

 tained from the shores of the river of the same name. In the north 

 of the [)rovinc(! of C;aga,yan it has been found in the districts around 

 the town of Pamplona; in th(! townships of l^anag and I'.angni, in 

 the province of llocos Norte; in th(^ sands of the river .\hra, which 



