Chapter IX: Part 9

The usual dress and clothing of that people is a loose shock of disheveled hair that reaches below the ears, and certain bands about one _jeme_ [55] wide made from the bark of trees. Having wound these about the waist, they twist them so that they cover the privy parts. They call these _bahaques_, and they are worn by all classes of people, men and women. Besides the said bahaque, the chiefs wear Ilocan blankets, which they have inherited from their ancestors; this garment is crossed from the shoulder to the waist, where they knot it. Thus do they go, without any other clothes or shoes. [56] The chiefs of those natives are not differentiated from the rest of the people in other things than in the possession of more bones of animals that they have killed in their feasts, more clothes, and greater age. There are more chiefs than in other nations, for there is one in every ten or twelve houses, who is head of his kinsfolk. They inherit from father to children, or by blood, and do not recognize one as greater than the other. Those chiefs generally insert gold in the teeth, which is so well fitted that it does not hinder their talking or eating at all.

The Ygolotes are in general a very active people, bold, well built, and feared by the other nations surrounding them. As they have discovered that, and that others, even when numerous, always run from them, the Ygolotes attack with but few men. Whenever they kill anyone, scarcely has he fallen before his head is cut off. On that account they make many feasts, and at night light many fires on many peaks. They make cups of the skulls, from which they drink in their feasts and revelries; and leave them as household effects to their heirs. If any of them are killed, and they can conceal it, they endeavor to do so; for they grieve greatly and consider it as a very great insult if the bodies of their dead are not carried away.

The arms used by them consist of a pointed lance one-third of a vara long, which they generally carry, well polished, and set in a handle of strong wood more than one braza long. They have others with which they usually fight, made from heavy green poles, larger than the above. At the head they insert a bamboo knot, with its point well sharpened into two edges. They cover themselves with their shields, which consist of certain short and very light boards, about four or five palmos long and two or more wide. They use many sharp-pointed stakes with which they sow the ground, particularly about their haunts, and wherever harm might come to them. [57]

The Ygolotes are an idolatrous race. They say that their god is the sky, whom they call Cabunian; and they offer and sacrifice to him, in their banquets and feasts, swine and carabaos, but under no consideration cows or bulls. The method of sacrifice practiced by them is [as follows]. Having tied all the animals not prohibited about the house of the sacrificer, after the ceremony an old man or old woman, having placed on the ground a painted cloth that resembles a surplice, and which they call _salili_, they continue to kill the animals, and make a great feast. They keep that up for two or three days until they have finished eating what they have, when their feast or _magunito_ also finishes. He who keeps up such entertainment longest and kills most of the said animals is most respected.

Their sages or philosophers are the oldest men and women, whom they respect and obey in an extraordinary manner, and most when they are occupied in the said feasts; for they say that then and even ordinarily those persons are wont to talk with the devil, who keeps them blinded.

That race lacks all good natural reasoning power. They cannot read, nor do they know what day, month, or year, or the increase and decline of the moon, signify. They govern themselves by one star that rises in the west, which they call _gaganayan_, while they call the natives of their neighborhood by the same name. On seeing that star they attend to the planting of their waste and wretched fields in order to sow them with yams and camotes, which form their usual and natural food. They do not have to plow or dig, or perform any other cultivation than that of clearing the land where they are to plant.

When any one of those barbarians dies, they do not bury him for many days, for, as they say, they pass one month, during which period they amass quantities of food about the deceased, to whom they give his share as well as the others. Then they continue to prick the body, and, as they say, they draw off or suck out the humors until the body is left dry. When that time comes they wrap it in their blankets, and fasten buyos and other things about the waist for the journey. Some are buried in a sitting posture and placed with their backs against their shields, in caves under the rocks, the mouths of which are stopped with stones. Others they set in the trees, and they carry food for so many days after having left them in either one of those places.

It is not very easy to ascertain the number of those people, who are scattered, for they are so intractable, and do not let themselves be seen, moving from one place to another on slight pretext, without any hindrance; for their houses, to provide which would be the chief cause of anxiety, they easily build anywhere, with a bundle of hay, while they move their fields of yams or camotes (on which they live well) from one place to another without much effort, pulling them up by the roots--for, because of the dampness of the country, these take root wherever they are placed. In the same manner, they carry their ornaments or bones; [58] and since their arms and clothes are but little or nothing, they are not embarrassed, because they always carry these with them. Yet it is known that, if those called Ygolotes reach one thousand men, that is a great number. They can scarcely gather in one body or live on friendly terms with one another. For those of Banaco and those of Atindao, villages of the same mountains, have little or no communication with them, as neither do those of Aytuy and Panaquy, villages on the other side of the said mountain-range--to whom it is said that they pay tribute or a sort of recognition; but both are hostile to those of Alrade, Vigan, and Oyrraya, so that, all those Ygolotes being so separated, cautious, malicious and treacherous, no message or despatch can at all be sent them. For if it be done with few Indians, they secure and kill them; and if there are many, they fight them, and will not listen to or believe them. If Spaniards go with an interpreter to talk to them, as I have sometimes attempted to do, they anticipate them on seeing them and no one remains in his house, but they flee from the Spaniards. Then, if perchance they hear some arguments that are shouted out to them, they laugh, and answer that we are deceiving them, and that they will not trust us; that they know us for people of bad faith; and that we must lay aside our firearms if we wish them to approach. And if we did that, they would employ their usual treachery and evil methods, as they generally do.

In the rainy season, that wretched race, most of whom are miners, unite with their wives and children to wash the sand of the streamlets that flow from the mountains, where with less work than in their mines, by avoiding the digging and crushing of the metal, they get some gold, although very little. [59] With what all of them get in one way or another, they go down peacefully to the villages nearest to them, to trade for certain animals or cattle. They do not trade the gold by weight, but by sight. Those cattle are the ones that they eat, with the solemnity above described, in a general assembly; for they do not breed any kind of cattle or any other living thing for their feast or sustenance, except certain small and very wretched dogs which we have often had a chance to see.

It is not easy for us or even for them to ascertain the strata, veins, or ores whence that product is yielded, since it is well known that it does not originate or form in the sand, which does not contain nurseries for it, since so many streamlets descend from so many ravines and slopes. For it is not yet known that, moving about ordinarily and having signs of that product, without ascertaining or knowing any other in all the country, the natives have discovered more than five elevations or hills within a distance of five or six leguas, which they have worked during the dry season, in order to support themselves so wretchedly as is known. Besides, those Ygolotes are indebted to the natives of the villages who are our friends, and are unable to pay those who give them credit; the wealth and wit of both peoples being so small and restricted that, although those people have no other kind of expenses, or other thing to attend to, than the product of their mines, they are very generally in debt--a sure proof of the mistake made in believing that the gain is much, or the said mines of much importance, as has been and is demonstrated by experience.

On one of the five elevations which I have said that the Ygolotes worked, namely, the said new one called Galan (it being the chief one, as I have said), I camped, and built the fort of Santiago, under whose advocacy [_i.e._, of Santiago or St. James] they say it was before. Retaining with myself about two hundred natives from both provinces [_i.e._, Pampanga and Ilocos], with the Sangleys and prisoners whom I took with me, I sent back all the others with thirty soldiers on the twenty-eighth of the month of February, to get more provisions, ammunition, and other necessary things, at the village and storehouses of Arrimguey, although afterward some Ylocos Indians deserted in the one month and six days while I occupied that place, the natives having returned by a third path. In all three months, their provisions amounted to two thousand and eighty-seven baskets of rice, each of fifteen gantas; and for the rations of all the men from January sixteen (when food began to be issued at my account) until March twenty-four following, were consumed two thousand and ninety-four baskets. These rations were given to all the said natives, and to seven hundred and sixty others besides, who were brought from Ylocos by the said master-of-camp in order to exchange with the first, as has been said. On the said day, March twenty-four, I mustered all the men, and paid and despatched them, except about one hundred and twenty from both provinces, thirty-one Sangleys, and about five adventurers [_estravagantes_] and substitutes who remained with me to aid and accompany us.

Having despatched the said men, I ordered the lieutenant of the province of Pagasinam not to advise me of anything unless it were a matter of great importance until the fifteenth of May, when he should send me four hundred other natives [from Pangasinan] and one hundred from the said province of Ylocos, all laden with beans and other things necessary for the sustenance of the men of the said presidio. That was done in order that I might more freely attend to the investigation of the mines of the said Ygolotes and what substance they contained. For that purpose I immediately ordered Martin de Vergara, my alférez, Rodrigo Lopez Orduña, Juan de Mugaburu, Graviel Molinero, and Diego de Tovar, soldiers of my company and all miners, and other persons who understood something [of mines] to investigate and reconnoiter the said new mines where the said Ygolotes were working. The mouths of those mines are in the northern part [of the ridge], about a stone's throw from the said fort, and the mine discovered extends from above downward in the manner of a horizontal vein or shell for the distance of a musket-shot from northwest to southeast, and then twists about for another equal distance to the direction that looks toward the northwest and west, until it disappears into the depths of a ravine or watercourse where there is but little sun. That is not the case with the one that extends northwest and southeast, for it is flooded with sunlight most of the day. When I reached that place the Ygolotes were working the said mines through many mouths or passages that they had opened, following the metal of one large vein, from which they were taking out the ore that was softest and easiest to dig, although it contained blue iron pyrites that contain antimony.

Having investigated and examined the above-mentioned, I judged it best to open a trial place or mouth high up, and in the middle of all the mine works that the said Ygolotes were carrying on, in order to get all the body of the metal from the top which is more than one braza wide, and from the crust of the earth. On the fifth of March following, we began to open it, and, following the opening for ten estados, we encountered the said mines that the Ygolotes were working, by which our field of work was enlarged much more on the level, at the sides, and vertically; and we continued to get metal for assaying.

The second hill or mine is that called Arisey and Bugayona, which is but little more than three leguas from the new one above. It issues from the same ridge or elevation, where the old fort Del Rosario [_i.e._, "of the rosary"] was established, which was destroyed by fire in November of the past year one thousand six hundred and twenty-three. It is on the slope facing west, and the sun floods it from nine until four. It has a descent of one-half legua that is very troublesome as it is very steep, with two divisions and ravines at the side, and precipices along both slopes and also in front; for it is very steep, with a hollow in the middle, in which a spring of water is enclosed, that rises near the place where the said fort stood. [There is] a slope which is at the foot of the work where the natives washed [gold], and gathered certain small stones known to them, which they crushed for their profit; for in no other way is there any known or constant source from which to obtain the metal--but only loose dirt with certain ores, and those of the said red metal, which traverse the soil--without digging down to the bottom. Nor can this dirt be worked without danger of caving in, as was the case in all the veins and works that were on that elevation. Nothing more of these remained than only the indications of having been opened and worked from the vertical within the elevation; for they do not follow the level and center as that has been found to be of no benefit. From that one is led to believe that the mines were abandoned long ago. Yet from the mouths of those sunken mines, inasmuch as no other place was found whence one might get ore, about fifteen small baskets of ore were obtained by the said miners, Alférez Martin de Bergara, Rodrigo Lopez Orduña, Juan de Mugaburu, and Diego de Tovar, from that which appeared best for assaying and examining its nature or the benefit that could be derived from it.

The third elevation and mine is that called Baranaban, which is about one legua from the said fort and mine of Arisey, on a barren hill that faces south, which is flooded by the sun all day long. Through it runs a vein about one vara wide, extending east and west for some distance. There are some works and openings there, narrow, and distinct one from the other. Thence were taken fifteen baskets of gravel and dirt, which has the color of coal, in order to assay it. One can get a quantity of it from the said vein, although with little security from the earth caving in unless the works be propped up; for all of them are of shifting dirt, which is easily undermined, for which reason the said works have caved in, and bear the aspect rather of neglect than of having been worked.

The fourth hill or mine is that of Antamog, which is perhaps more than two leguas from the said old fort and mine of Arisey, and five and one-half from our fort of Santiago, which faces south from a large hill whose peak extends east and west, the said elevation having been undermined by one of its springs, and traversed by very narrow small threads of white and yellow metal; while all the elevation is traversed by and filled with passages, which are found intermixed, opened sidewise from the vertical and inward, and dipping downward scarcely at all, as the threads of the metal are not deep. In order that these may not cave in, they are propped up with stakes and boards; for otherwise, inasmuch as the dirt is so loose, they would not remain at all secure, as has happened to those unpropped, since we saw some that were blocked up and caved in. The said works are very narrow, and all were examined without finding metal, because of the high level, or sides, or any kind of vein, except at the entrance of the openings whence they were drawn.

From the said threads they obtained a kind of brass-colored and less dirty earth, in order to wash it in another large placer, that they had at one side of the said elevation, with a small stream that rises on top of the elevation, where they had a small settlement. They could, to all appearances, obtain but little profit, and with great difficulty, even with the community so near by. According to the signs, it was a long time since those workings and mines had been worked, and they were more neglected than the others; yet they produced the best (or the best-appearing) ore that could be found. Twenty baskets of it were obtained by the said miners to assay and investigate its nature, and determine what it might be.

The fifth and last elevation, hill, or mine is that called Conog, which is about one-half legua from the preceding and located in the same chain. It is flooded by the sun all day long, as is the other. The said elevation, turning, extends toward the north. In it are to be seen five or six openings or passages, that differ but little from those of Antamog. No considerable or fundamental vein was found, but only brass-colored earth that contained some small bits of blue metal containing iron pyrites, all of them very soft. In one passage that was lower was found on the level a small stream of clear water which empties through another opening lower down than it, both of those openings having been made for one excavation. To all appearances those mines were abandoned long ago; and although they were not being worked, and were seen to be so neglected, they contained the best-appearing metal that was seen. The said miners got about ten small baskets of it to assay.

The tools with which those Ygolotes worked, or work, their mines are certain stakes of heavy wood fashioned like pickaxes, with the knot of the said stake larger at the end of it, where, having pierced it, they fit into it a small narrow bit of iron about one palmo long. Then seated in the passages or works, as the veins prove, they pick out and remove the ore, which having been crushed by a stout rock in certain large receptacles fixed firmly in the ground, and with other smaller stones by hand, and having reduced the ore to powder, they carry it to the washing-places. For that purpose they have some small streamlets near at hand, with two or three hollows in their beds. There passing the said ore from one to the other until they clean away the mud from it, by means of the sunlight, which floods everything, they discover and collect some dust or grains of gold. Then they again crush the large grains of ore, and wash and rewash it, until, having passed through the said basins, what remains at last is entirely useless. To judge by the tools that have been seen and which the said Ygolotes have, as above said, the most usual and only working that they give their ores is the above, and nothing further. With their little ability for discovering these, if nature and poverty--which reduces them to subjection without any expense--did not compel them, they would vainly spend their time, in one way or another, in searching for something to eat, which they do not possess or produce.

All the hills and elevations, mines, passages, veins, and works above mentioned have been examined and entered by the said miners. They have obtained and assayed metals with the greatest care possible. Each assay is set down separately so that it will stand as a testimony and token of service, with the day, month, and year, just as they have been made, in the following manner.

_Refinement_ [_of metals_]. 1. First, on Palm Saturday, on the night of the thirtieth of March, one thousand six hundred and twenty-four, a refining fire was made by the said Alférez Martin de Vergara and the other miners. Upon it and seventeen libras of lead was fed the dust and sediment of one-half quintal of ore that was obtained from the hole which I have said was opened in the veins and new mines of Galan, at a depth of ten estados. A grain of the appearance of silver, and weighing as much as one real, was obtained.

_Quicksilver_. 2. On the said day, April six, of the said year, three quintals of ore from the same hole and veins were incorporated with three libras of quicksilver and compounded with salt. On the tenth of the said month it was washed, and a small grain of gold was obtained that weighed one-half real. In the said assay ten onzas of quicksilver were lost.

_Quicksilver_. 3. On the said day, April six, three libras of quicksilver were incorporated with three quintals of ore from the said hole and vein, which was obtained at a depth of ten estados; and the mixture was compounded with salt. It was washed on the tenth of the said month, and a small grain of gold of the weight of one-half real was obtained. Eleven onzas of quicksilver were lost.

_Quicksilver_. 4. On Sunday, April seven, two quintals of the same ore from the said hole and vein were incorporated with two libras of quicksilver, having roasted the ore while in the form of stone, before crushing it. On the eleventh it was washed, and a small grain of gold of the weight of one-half real was obtained. Six onzas of quicksilver were lost.

[5.] That day, the eleventh of the said month, in a second refinement, the dust and sediment that remained from a quintal of the same ore was put on the fire. On being fused with twenty-three libras of lead, nothing was obtained from the said assay.

_Quicksilver_. 6. Saturday, the thirteenth of the said month of April, one libra of quicksilver was incorporated with two and one-half arrobas of ore obtained from certain excavations found below the earth inside a little hut, near our fort and the said mine, which was burned by the Igolotes. On the eighteenth of the month it was washed, and a grain of gold weighing one real was obtained; and three onzas of quicksilver were lost.

_Quicksilver_. 7. Tuesday, the sixteenth, four libras of quicksilver were incorporated with four quintals of ore obtained at a depth of ten or eleven estados in the said mine and hole. Having made that assay in a stove, on the twenty-second of the said month of April they washed the said four quintals of ore, and obtained a grain of gold of the weight of one real. Two onzas of quicksilver were lost.

_Quicksilver_. 8. Wednesday, the seventeenth, one libra of quicksilver was incorporated with one quintal of the said ore, obtained at a depth of eleven estados. Having been treated in a reverberating furnace, on the twenty-second of the said month it was washed and a small grain of gold of barely the weight of half a real was obtained. Three and one-half onzas of quicksilver were lost.

_Quicksilver_. 9. Thursday, April eighteen, they recrushed and washed the sweepings and residue of the first three quintals of ore which had been compounded with quicksilver. With the one quintal that resulted therefrom, they incorporated on the said day one libra of quicksilver. On the twenty-second it was washed, and for the second time a small grain of gold was obtained of the weight of one-quarter real. Two and one-half onzas of quicksilver were lost.

_Quicksilver_. 10. Wednesday, the twenty-fourth of the said month of April, four libras of quicksilver were incorporated with four quintals of ore, obtained from a passage or opening carefully concealed in the bed of the streamlet, almost at the end of the said vein, and at the end of the other openings in it on the northwest side, where it obtains but very little sun and considerable dampness. It is an ore that contains a quantity of antimony, and one can obtain much of it, to judge from the works that the Ygolotes had, and those that we were making, as it seemed an ore of fairly good appearance. Compounding the assay of the said four quintals with salt and magistral, [60] the compound was washed on the second of May following, and a grain of gold of one-half real weight obtained. Two onzas of quicksilver were lost.

_Quicksilver_. 11. On the twenty-ninth of April, three libras of quicksilver were incorporated with three quintals of ore obtained from a washing-place made by the Ygolotes below the openings, and near the preceding place. The compound was washed on the fifth of May, and a grain of gold weighing one and one-half reals was obtained. Eight onzas of quicksilver were lost.

_Quicksilver_. 12. On the third of the said month of May, one libra of quicksilver was incorporated with one quintal of ore obtained from the said hole and vein as the four preceding assays. Having been crushed and burned in the openings before being incorporated with the said quicksilver, it was washed on the sixth; a small grain of gold, weighing less than one-half real, was obtained from that assay, while three onzas of quicksilver were lost.

_Quicksilver_. 13. April twenty-nine, one libra of quicksilver was incorporated with one quintal of ore obtained from the old mines, of which I have made mention, called Baranaban. On May sixteen it was washed, and a small grain of gold obtained of one-quarter real weight. Three onzas of quicksilver were lost.

_Arisus. Quicksilver._ 14. Tuesday, April thirty, one libra of quicksilver was incorporated with another quintal of ore obtained from the said old mines called Arisey and Bugayona. On May seven following it was washed, and a small grain of gold, weighing less than one-quarter real, obtained. Two and one-half onzas of quicksilver were lost.

_Quicksilver_. 15. The first of the said month of May, one libra of quicksilver was incorporated with one quintal of ore obtained from the said old mines and from those called Antamo. On the eighth of the said month it was washed, and a small grain of gold about as large as the head of a pin, which could not be weighed, obtained. Six onzas of quicksilver were lost.

_Quicksilver_. 16. The said day, May first, one libra of quicksilver was incorporated with one quintal of ore obtained from the said old mines--from the one called Conog. On the eighth of the said month it was washed, and another small grain of gold obtained, of the same size as the preceding. Four onzas of quicksilver were lost in the said assay.

_Quicksilver_. 17. May two, one-half libra of quicksilver was incorporated with two arrobas of ore obtained from the vein and works of the streamlet at the new mine mentioned above as being near our fort of Santiago. Compounding that assay and calcination with magistral, nothing was obtained. Three onzas of quicksilver were lost.

_Quicksilver_. 18. The said day, May two, another one-half libra of quicksilver was incorporated with another half libra, I mean one-half quintal, of ore obtained from the preceding opening and vein. It was washed on the sixth of the said month, as also was the preceding assay. Only a small grain of gold weighing one-fourth real was obtained from that [mass] which was only compounded with quicksilver. Two and one-half onzas of quicksilver were lost.

_Quicksilver_. 19. On the fifth of the same month of May three libras of quicksilver were incorporated with three quintals of ore from the first hole and mouth opened near our fort, as above stated. On the twelfth of the said month it was washed, and a grain of gold weighing scarcely one real obtained. Two onzas of quicksilver were lost.

_Quicksilver_. 20. Saturday, May eleven, one-half libra of quicksilver was incorporated with two arrobas of ore obtained from an enclosure found at one-half legua's distance from our fort and the new mine, on the edge of a river. It was washed on the sixteenth of the said month, but nothing was found in it. One and one-half onzas of quicksilver were lost.

_Quicksilver_. 21. On the fourteenth of the said month one libra of quicksilver was incorporated with one quintal of ore obtained from a passage which was discovered to have been worked by the Ygolotes in the same vein and new mine, in its western part of which mention has been made. The said vein extends to the southwest. The mixture was washed on the eighteenth of the said month, and a small grain of gold, weighing one-half real, was obtained. One-half onza of quicksilver was lost.

_Quicksilver_. 22. On Thursday, May nine, three libras of quicksilver were incorporated with three quintals of ore obtained from the first hole and vein of the new mine, of which mention has been made. May nineteen it was washed, and a small grain of gold, of one-third real weight, obtained. Twelve onzas of quicksilver were lost.

_Smelting_. 23. Monday, the twentieth of the said month, another assay was made by fusing one quintal of litharge [61] and two of ore obtained from the said hole and vein preceding. From the said mixture, although they tried it several times, it was impossible to fuse or melt the said ore. On the contrary, there was a loss of the lead consumed with the said litharge, and the mixture continued to be consumed; so that having been exhausted and the oven having become clogged, it was necessary to stop without succeeding with the said assay. They attributed that to the said ore being unfit for smelting.

_Quicksilver_. 24. Thursday, May twenty, two libras of quicksilver were incorporated with one and one-half quintals of ore obtained from a depth of fourteen estados in the said vein and hole which was opened as above stated. On the twenty-fifth of the said month it was washed, and a small grain of gold, weighing one-half real, was obtained. Two onzas of quicksilver were lost.

_Smelting_. 25. Sunday, May twenty-six, a second assay by smelting was made with three quintals of litharge and one of _tesmiquitate_, [62] refined; both were fluxed with three quintals of ore obtained from the second hole or passage above mentioned as being near the level of the streamlet in the said vein and new mine. That was a second and different compound and was made by smelting and with the said flux; but they were unable to fuse the ore, although many efforts were exerted. It was useless because of the poor quality that the miners ascribed to the said ore. Finding that there was considerable loss and waste of the lead, they had to desist.

_Smelting_. 26. Monday, May twenty-six, a third assay was made by refining or smelting, by feeding the dust that was left from one quintal of ore, obtained at a depth of fourteen or more estados from the first vein and hole which, I have said, was opened in the said new mine. Having consumed twenty-five libras of lead, upon which the metal melted, a grain resulted that resembles silver, and weighs one and one-half reals. [63]

The said tests or assays having been made and finished, the lay of the land, and its natives and mines, having been examined, and having obtained a quantity of ore from all the mines, I left the said presidio and fort of Santiago well fortified with a garrison of fifty-six Spaniards and fifty Indians--twenty-five from the province of Pangasinan and twenty-five from that of Ylocos--eleven galley negroes, and one armorer, with food and all other things necessary for more than fifteen months. Then, with the said last division of the said five hundred Indians, who, as I have made mention, were to be sent me by a lieutenant by the twenty-fourth of May, I set about my descent, carrying with me, by the end of the said month, one hundred quintals of the said ore; this I am sending to the city of Manila in four hundred small rice-baskets, each numbered with the mine whence it was taken, so that proof may be made there of the efforts mentioned above; since it is the self-same ore, the governor and captain-general, the royal Audiencia, and the royal officials can confirm it anew and make the tests again, so that, understanding the said mines fully, they may report to his Majesty, and resolve upon the measures that they deem fitting in regard to the holding of the said presidio in a land of so little or no profit as is that land.

_Alonzo Martin Quirante_

_Act_. In the camp of new mines and the fort of Santiago of the Ygolotes, on the twenty-ninth day of the month of March, one thousand six hundred and twenty-four, Captain and Sargento-mayor Alonso Martin Quirante, chief magistrate of the province of Pangasinan and military commandant of that province and of that of Ylocos, in whose charge is the conquest or pacification of the Ygolote Indians, and the discovery, working, and opening of their mines, declared that inasmuch as he was ordered by Governor and Captain-general Don Alonso Fajardo de Tença, he has come for the said purpose of the said conquest, pacification, and discovery of the said mines. And inasmuch as he had been informed by experienced men that the productive mines, to which the said natives are giving most attention at the present time, are the new ones among them called Galan, he has located and planted upon them the said camp and fort of Santiago, so that, having made a fort among them and placed in safety his men, food supply, and other military stores, he might make expeditions and explore the other mines of which he has or may have information that the said Ygolotes have profitably worked, or can work, throughout all this region. He declared that it should be ascertained what ore could be obtained from those mines, and the amount of metal that should result from them, and the loss of materials that should be allotted for their treatment. He ordered me, the present scribe, to make and prepare a blank book in which to set down as evidence, with the day, month, and year, the assays of the said ores obtained from such mines, and the materials used in their treatment; and that this act be placed at the head of such evidence, which should therefore be given, in the said manner, so that it might be seen for all time. Thus did he decree and order, and he affixed his signature. I, the said scribe of this said camp of mines and forces of Santiago, attest it.

_Alonso Martin Quirante_

Before me:

_Alonso Callexas_

_Attestation_. 1. I, Alonso Callexas, scribe of these new mines of Santiago of the Ygolotes, in fulfilment of the order given me by the said act above declared, having made this blank book, do hereby attest faithfully and truly, that today, Saturday, at ten o'clock at night, or thereabout, the thirtieth of this current month of March, one thousand six hundred and twenty-four, the first assay was finished by Alférez Martin de Vergara, of the company of the said captain and sargento-mayor Alonso Martin Quirante, in the presence of Juan de Mugaburu, Rodrigo Lopez Orduña, Grabiel Molinero, and Diego de Tovar, all miners. The assay was for one-half quintal of ore which was obtained from a hole made in these new mines from the crust of the earth to the openings and veins whence the said Ygolote Indians evidently had been and were obtaining it, and when we had dug down about ten estados. The said assay was made by refining, by feeding [the dust of the ore] upon sixteen libras of lead. From it was obtained a grain that resembled silver, which, having been weighed by me, weighed a trifle more than one real. In order that that may be evident, I gave the present at the petition of the said captain and sargento-mayor, who, together with the said alférez, affixed his signature. Witnesses were Licentiate Augustin Tabuyo Baldicañas, cura and vicar in this said camp and fort, Adjutant Andres Tamayo, Alférez Don Joseph de Renteria, and many others who were present at this royal camp and fort of Santiago, where this is dated on the said Saturday, March thirty, one-thousand six hundred and twenty-four.

_Alonso Martin Quirante_

_Martin de Vergara_

Before me: _Alonso Callejas_, scribe.

[Twenty-five other attestations, one for every following assay after the first, all similar to the above, follow. The document continues:]

_Attestation_. 27. I, Alonso Callejas, scribe of these said new mines and fort of Santiago among the Ygolotes, attest and witness truly that the twenty-six assays contained in these six leaves and in this form, are of the mines and ores declared therein; and that from the said mines, in my presence, of which I give attestation, one hundred quintals of ore, besides that used in the said assays, were taken by order of Captain and Sargento-mayor Alonso Martin Quirante, in order to send them to the city of Manila, by Alférez Martin de Vergara, Juanes de Mugaburu, Graviel Molinero, Rodrigo Lopez Orduña, and Diego de Tovar, all miners. Accordingly that ore, having been weighed by me, is being carried in four hundred small rice-baskets of an arroba apiece--so that, since they are from the same ores as those from which the said assays have been made, the governor and captain-general, Don Alonso Faxardo de Tença, and the royal officials may have the assays made again in the said city; and so that, with verification of the efforts that have been made in these mines, they may understand and see the truth concerning and the possibilities of the mines of the Ygolotes of which we have as yet had notice, and that have been worked or may be worked all about this said camp and for some leguas about it. And so that it may be evident, I gave the present at the petition of Captain and Sargento-mayor Alonso Martin Quirante, who affixed his signature together with the above mentioned miners. Witnesses were Licentiate Agustin Tabuyo Baldecañas, Captain Joan de Salinas, and Adjutant Andres Tamayo, while in this camp of new mines and the fort of Santiago, where this is dated on the twenty-seventh day of the month of May, one thousand six hundred and twenty-four.

_Alonso Martin Quirante_ _Martin de Vergara_ _Juanes de Mugaburu_ _Rodrigo Lopez Orduña_ _Diego de Tovar_ _Graviel Molinero_

Before me:

_Alonso Callejas_, scribe.

By order of the captain and sargento-mayor, Alonso Martin Quirante, chief justice of this province of Pangasinan and military commandant of it and of the province of Ylocos, I, the present scribe, ordered to be drawn and drew this copy of the original attestations and investigations which were made for the said purpose. It is a true and faithful copy, and has been collated and revised with the said originals which were sent to the said governor and captain-general of these islands, Don Alonso Fajardo de Tenga. In the copy, for its greater validity, the said captain and sargento-mayor interposed his authority and judicial decree in due form, and so that it might be credited in and out of court. And he affixed his signature, witnesses being Alférez Alonso Tellez de Prado, Sargento Domingo Ruiz, and Captain Joan de Salinas, who were present in this village of Alingayen, where this is given on the fifth day of the month of June, one thousand six hundred and twenty-four.

_Alonso Martin Quirante_

I sealed it in testimony of truth:

_Gaspar de Los Reyes_, notary-public.

_Quicksilver that was lost_

No. 1. It is silver.

10. No. 2. It weighed scarce one maes, or nine diezmos, of the fineness of eighteen or nineteen carats, alloyed with silver. It is worth on this occasion four reals. [64]

11. No. 3. It weighs two and one-half diezmos. Ten diezmos make one maes of the same gold of the above standard. It is worth one and one-half reals.

6. No. 4. It weighs one and one-half diezmos of the same fineness as the first. It is worth twenty-four maravedis.

3. No. 6. It weighs one maes and one diezmo of gold of twenty carats fine. It is worth five and one-half reals.

12. No. 7. The gold weighs one maes two diezmos of eighteen or nineteen carats fine. It is worth five and one-half reals.

3. No. 8. The gold weighs five and one-half diezmos of eighteen carats fine. It is worth two reals and twenty-four maravedis.

2. No. 9.

32. No. 10. The gold weighs six and one-half diezmos of sixteen carats fine. It is worth three reals.

8. No. 11. The gold weighs two maes four diezmos of twenty-two carats fine. It is worth thirteen reals twenty-four maravedis.

3. No. 12. It weighs two diezmos of sixteen carats fine. It is worth one real.

3. No. 13. It weighs two large diezmos of eighteen carats fine. It is worth one real.

2 1/2. No. 14. It weighs one large diezmo of eighteen or nineteen carats fine. It is worth twenty-four maravedis.

6. No. 15. It weighs a scant one-half diezmo of eighteen carats fine. It is worth six maravedis.

4. No. 16. It weighs a scant one-half diezmo of eighteen carats fine. It is worth six maravedis.

3. No. 17.

2 1/2. No. 18. It weighs one diezmo of eighteen carats fine. It is worth one-half real.

2. No. 19. It weighs nine and one-half diezmos of sixteen carats fine. It is worth three reals twenty-four maravedis.

1. No. 21. It weighs four diezmos of eighteen or nineteen carats fine. It is worth two reals.

1/2. No. 22. It weighs three diezmos of fourteen carats fine. It is worth one real.

2. No. 24. It weighs six and one-half diezmos of metal [but of a] very base alloy; to judge by its points, there is no standard with which to compare it. All the rest is copper.

No. 26. It is silver. Pelayo Hernandez. All of it is worth 5 pesos 6 tomins.

In the city of Manila, on the thirteenth of July, one thousand six hundred and twenty-four, while Doctor Don Alvaro de Mesa y Lugo of his Majesty's council and his auditor in the said royal Audiencia, who exercises the office of its president; and Don Geronimo de Silva, captain-general on sea and land and of the artillery of these islands; Licentiate Juan de Saavedra Balderramas, Licentiate Don Matthias Flores, and Licentiate Zapata de Galvez, auditors and fiscals of the said royal Audiencia; and the judicial officials of the royal revenues, Diego de Castro Lizon, factor and overseer, and Martin Ruiz de Salazar, accountant--were in the hall of the Audiencia; and while they were thus assembled: the said president declared that inasmuch as a quantity of ores had been brought from the mines of the Ygolotes, so that the tests might be made here, in order to ascertain whether they conformed to those made there, of which Sargento-mayor Alonso Martin Quirante, chief magistrate and commandant of the province of Pangasinan, sent a relation and attestation, it was advisable to discuss it and determine whether it would be advisable to send the ore brought thence to Nueva España in the ships which are next to be sent thither. Inasmuch as there are many persons skilled in mines and assay of ore in that kingdom, they might perhaps be able to furnish the accurate tests there that had not been arrived at here. If they did not succeed in ascertaining its quality there, that would be a greater proof of the disillusion that is talked of here. He trusted that what might be done in this matter be most expedient for the service of the king our sovereign. The assembly having discussed and conferred upon the question put by the said president, all were unanimously and harmoniously of one accord and opinion. They declared and voted that for the present the expenses and costs that are being incurred in the working of the mines of the Ygolotes be curtailed; that the officials and workmen there be withdrawn and disbanded; that the one hundred _chiculetes_ [_sc._ quintals] of ore and dirt which are in this city, together with the gold obtained, from the assays and tests which were made there, be sent in those vessels next to be despatched to Nueva España, to the royal officials of the City of Mexico; and that the matter be entrusted to the royal officials of this city--not only to attend to it, but to send a relation of all that has taken place and of the efforts expended in the working of those mines, and the results thereof. Thus they may there prove it, and attempt to make new efforts to know whether the greatest profit has been obtained from what was got here--for it is understood that there are persons there of greater experience in that art--so that advice of it may be given to the royal Council of the Indias, and may also be sent to the said royal officials of this city.

The president also declared that the infantry stationed in the city of Nueva Segovia are very needy and destitute, as it is many days since any aid has been sent to them from this city; and, as the greater part of that province has revolted, his Majesty does not possess in it any royal revenues with which to be able to sustain the soldiers. [Accordingly, it should be considered] whether it would be advisable that the infantry established in the presidio at the mines be assigned to the province of Nueva Segovia, so that, with greater forces, our purpose to subdue the natives who have revolted there might be attained, since the said mines are in the middle of the path. He also declared that, above all, the said men present at the meeting should give their opinion, so that whatever might be voted be carried out as might be most advisable for his Majesty's service. The said men in the assembly having discussed and conferred concerning the proposition of the said president, all were unanimously and uniformly of one mind and opinion. They declared that four installments of pay be sent to the infantry established in the presido at the city of Nueva Segovia; and that the royal judges and officials send directions for the order that must be observed in relieving them. In what pertains to the infantry established in the presidio of the mines being taken to the city of Nueva Segovia, they declared that that be referred to the captain-general, so that he may take what measures are most expedient for his Majesty's service. They gave their opinion in writing, and affixed their signatures.

_Doctor Don Alvaro de Mesa y Lugo_ _Don Geronimo de Silva_ _Licentiate Don Juan de Saavedra Balderrama_ _Licentiate Don Mathias Delgado Flores_ _Licentiate Marcos Zapota de Galvez_ _Diego de Castro Lizon_ _Martin Ruiz de Salazar_

Before me: _Pedro Alvarez_

Collated with the original minute: _Pedro Alvarez_

Between lines are: "me;" "in;" "they find;" "that was brought from the old mines called;" "corrected;" "me;" "who;" "should be worth;" "erased;" "Ygolotes;" "in-[_des_];" "ten;" "it is not worth."

Revised with a copy of the originals that is in this royal accountancy, to which we refer. Manila, August eleven, one thousand six hundred and twenty-four.

_Diego de Castro Lison_ _Joan Perez Descalona_ _Martin Ruiz de Salazar_

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL DATA

The following documents are obtained from MSS. in the Archivo general de Indias, Sevilla, the pressmark of each being thus indicated:

1. _Letter by Fajardo_ (July 21).--"Simancas--Secular; Audiencia de Filipinas; cartas y expedientes del gobernador de Filipinas vistos en el Consejo; años 1600 á 1628; est. 67, caj. 6, leg. 7."

2. _Letter by Serrano_ (1621).--"Simancas--Eclesiastico; Audiencia de Filipinas; cartas y expedientes del arzobispo de Manila vistos en el Consejo; años 1579 á 1679; est. 68, caj. 1, leg. 32."

3. _Affairs in Franciscan province_.--"Simancas--Eclesiastico; Audiencia de Filipinas; cartas y expedientes de religiosos misioneros de Filipinas vistos en el Consejo; años 1617 á 1642; est. 68, caj. 1, leg. 38."

4. _Letter by Silva_.--"Simancas--Secular; Audiencia de Filipinas; cartas y expedientes del presidente y oydores de dicha Audiencia vistos en el Consejo; años 1607 á 1626; est. 67, caj. 6, leg. 20."

5. _Letter by Fajardo_ (December 10).--The same as No. 1.

6. _Letters by Messa y Lugo_--The same as No. 4.

7. _Letters by Serrano_ (1622).--The same as No. 2.

8. _Decrees regarding religious_.--"Audiencia de Filipinas; registro de oficio; reales ordenes dirigidos á las autoridades del distrito de la Audiencia; años 1597 á 1634; est. 105, caj. 2, leg. 1."

9. _Expedition to Igorrotes mines_.--"Simancas--Secular; Audiencia de Filipinas; cartas y expedientes de los oficiales reales de Manila vistos en el Consejo; años 1623 á 1641; est. 67, caj. 16, leg. 30."

The following is from a MS. in the collection "Papeles de los Jesuitas," in the Real Academia de la Historia, Madrid:

10. _News from province of Filipinas_.--"Tomo 87, n_o_ 48."

The following is taken from the "Cedulario Indico" of the Archivo Historico Nacional, Madrid:

11. _Letter by Felipe IV_.--"Tomo 40, fol. 7, verso, n_o_ 15."

The following is found in the Ventura del Arco MSS. (Ayer library):

12. _Death of Doña Catalina_.--In vol. i, pp. 509-514.

The following document includes two, as thus indicated:

13. _Royal permission for Dominican college_.--From _Algunos documentos relat. Univ. de Manila_ (Madrid, 1892), p. 21; and Pastells's edition of Colin's _Labor evangélica_, iii, p. 565.

NOTES

[1] According to the _Diary_ of Richard Cocks, this prince was the father-in-law of Calsa Sama, the youngest son of the shogun Hidétada.

[2] Pedro de Avila joined the Franciscan missions in the Philippines in 1616, and immediately requested from his superiors permission to go to Japan. This was finally granted; he went there in 1619, but was imprisoned for preaching the faith, in 1620, and, after nearly two years of most painful and wretched imprisonment, was burned at the stake at Nangasaqui, on September 10, 1622, at the age of thirty years.

[3] The original MS. of this document is badly worn, in places; and the words enclosed in brackets, in the two following paragraphs, indicate the conjectures of the transcriber.

[4] These priests were Pedro de Zuñiga, an Augustinian, and Luis Flores, a Dominican. In 1622, they, with the Japanese captain of the vessel, were burned to death by a slow fire, and the crew were beheaded. The Japanese shogun appropriated the cargo of the ship, leaving only the empty hull for the Dutch and English. (See Cocks's _Diary_, i, pp. xxxvi and xxxvii.)

[5] As a result of this alliance, the English and the Dutch East India Companies were united; "a combined fleet of English and Dutch ships, sailing under the modest name of the Fleet of Defence, was equipped for the purpose of endamaging the common enemy and diverting the trade of China from the Philippine Islands to the Dutch and English settlements; in other words, to blockade the Spanish and Portuguese ports and seize as many of the Chinese trading junks as possible. In the two expeditions to the Philippines undertaken by the fleet before the English and Dutch again separated, they captured many prizes." (See E.M. Thompson's preface to Cocks's _Diary_, i, pp. xxxi-xxxvi.)