elves with the use of a hammer, without any art or
regularity; and as the ignorance of these demi-savages is too great
for them to possess the notions necessary for the separation of the
component parts which enter into the combination of minerals, and much
less for the construction of furnaces suitable to the smelting and
formation of the moulds, it is concluded they must have found some
vein of copper entirely pure, which, without the necessity of any
other preparation, they have been able to flatten with the hammer and
rendered maleable, so as to convert it into the rough vessels above
spoken of.

[Cinnabar.] The district-magistrate of Caraga, Don Augustin de Ioldi,
received a special commission from the government to explore and
obtain information respecting a mine of cinnabar, which was said
to be situated under his jurisdiction; and I have been informed of
another of the same species in the Island of Samar, the working of
which has ceased for a considerable time, not because the prospect was
unfavorable, but for the want of an intelligent person to superintend
and carry on the operations. The utility of such a discovery is too
obvious not to deserve, on the part of government, the most serious
attention and every encouragement to render it available; and it is
to be hoped that, as the first steps have already been taken in this
important disclosure, the enterprise will not be abandoned, but, on
the contrary, that exertions will be made to obtain aid and advice
from the Miners' College of Mexico, as the best means of removing
doubt, and acting with judgment in the affair.

[Iron.] Iron in mineral form is to be found at various points on Luzon,
and those engaged in working it, without the necessity of digging;
collect the iron-bearing stones that constitute the upper stratum,
these, when placed in fusion, generally yield about forty per cent
clear metal. This is the case in the mountains of Angat, situated
in the Province of Bulacan, and also in the vicinity of the Baliwag
River. In Morong, however, belonging to the Province of La Laguna,
where the cannon-ball factory is established, the ore yields under
twenty-two per cent. Its quality is in general better than the Biscayan
iron, according to formal experiments and a report, made in 1798 to
Governor Don Rafael Maria de Aguilar, by two Biscayan master-smiths
from the squadron of Admiral Alava. Witnesses to this test were the
Count de Aviles and Don Felix de la Ros