ittle box full of sand,
out of a few small drusy cavities, has been fixed upon and pounded,
to be sold as variegated writing-sand, after being carefully sifted.

[A pretty fan-palm.] A peculiarly beautiful fan-palm grows on this
hill. Its stem is from thirty to forty feet high, cylindrical and
dark-brown, with white rings a quarter of an inch broad at distances of
four inches, and, at similar intervals, crown-shaped bands of thorns
two inches long. Near the crown-leaf the stem passes into the richest
brown of burnt sienna.

[Rooming in a powder-magazine.] Notwithstanding a very bad road, a
pleasant ride carried us from Paracale to the sea-shore, and, through
a beautiful wood, to Mambulao, which lies W. by N. I alighted at the
tribunal, and took up my lodgings in the room where the ammunition was
kept, as being the only one that could be locked. For greater security,
the powder was stored in a corner and covered with carabao-hide;
but such were my arrangements that my servant carried about a burning
tallow light, and his assistant a torch in the hand. When I visited
the Filipino priest, I was received in a friendly manner by a young
girl who, when I offered my hand, thanked me with a bow, saying,
"Tengo las sarnas" ("I have the itch"). The malady, which is very
common in the Philippines, appears to have its focus in this locality.

[Gneiss and crystalline rock.] A quarter of a league N.N.E. we came
upon the ruins of another mining undertaking, the Ancla de Oro. Shaft
and water-cutting had fallen in, and were thickly grown over; and
only a few of the considerable buildings were still standing; and
even those were ready to fall. In a circle some natives were busily
employed, in their manner, collecting grains of gold. The rock is
gneiss, weathered so much that it cannot be recognized; and at a
thousand paces on the other side is a similar one, clearly crystalline.

[Hornblende and hornblende slate.] Half a league N. by E. from Mambulao
is the lead-mountain of Dinianan. Here also all the works were fallen
in, choked with mud and grown over. Only after a long search were
a few fragments found with traces of red-lead ore. This mountain
consists of hornblende rock; in one place, of hornblende slate,
with very beautiful large crystals.

[Copper.] A league and a half S. from Mambulao a shallow hollow in
the ground marks the site of an old copper-mine, which must have
been eighty-four feet deep. Copper ores are found in seve