324 Mineral Riches of the Philippines. l] u h r > 



must exist ; but if this does take place, our friends, the 

 Spaniards, must change their present system of parsimony 

 in their operations, or perhaps the result may be brought 

 about by foreign energy, and the introduction of foreign 

 capital. Mines in Spain are now worked profitably by 

 foreign companies which yielded but poor results to the 

 Spaniards themselves. • 



No lead mines have yet been worked in these islands with 

 the exception of that of argentiferous galena already alluded 

 to under the notices of silver, though extremely rich samples 

 of ore have been sent to Manila for examination from both 

 the Island of Cebu and the province of Camarines north. 

 Not having visited the localities in which the specimens 

 were found, I cannot say how far it would be worth while 

 to work them. In the neighbourhood of Labo, in North 

 Camarines, and not far from the point where galena has 

 been discovered, is a deposit (said to be now nearly ex- 

 hausted) of that rare mineral the chromate of lead, which 

 hitherto has been brought almost exclusively from Siberia 

 and Brazil. Soon after its discovery, a great number of 

 most magnificently crystallised specimens were obtained 

 from an excavation made by a Spaniard, who is said to have 

 gone to the expense of having it filled up again, in order 

 to be the sole possessor of these fine minerals. In this he was 

 disappointed, however, as much more of the chromate was 

 obtained, though not in such large or such perfect specimens. 

 The crystallisation variety is accompanied by a much larger 

 quantity of an earthy and massive kind. The natives have 

 destroyed quantities of the crystals by pounding them to 

 powder, to be used as sand for drying writing, and make 

 use of the galena in the same way. I have had a large 

 bottle filled with small crystals of chromate picked from 

 the gangue and intended for the above purpose. 



Iron appears to be abundant, and the ore very rich at 

 what are called the mines of Augat, in the Province of 

 Balacan. Some attempts have been made at work in the 

 European style, but from various causes this enterprise has 

 failed like so many others. The iron is now obtained from 

 sample pits, dug by the natives, who reduce it in the most 

 primitive of furnaces. The chief use to which the metal is 

 applied is in castings for the ploughs of the country, which 

 are very rude and ineffective implements. From Augat 

 have been received some good specimens of magnetic iron 

 (native loadstone), and some of the samples of ore are of 

 the richest description. 



In former days, iron was procured in the mountains of 



